wombatjoey

just know that eating in the MDR is not a good experience, unless it is your first cruise and you dont know any better....so a Suite allows you to eat in the Luminae. Seems Celeb has made MDR so bad that Luminae seems so much better.

Next time if we sail Celeb, we will just eat in the Buffet. No more MDR for us and dont want to pay for a suite to get decent dining.

NO to Mexico and No to Jamaica....

Southern Carib is best.

We have been to San Juan several times over the years. It has progressively gotten worse to the point of being a slum. Now after the hurricane, I cant even imagine what it may be like.

Yes I hear you about flying on the day of the cruise, even if the ship is in port overnight. There is someone here who said a snow storm prevented them from getting on the ship even the second day.

the ship is in San Juan overnight...so we do have 2 days to get there...really dont want to stay in hotel in San Juan...in fact I dont want to be in San Juan at all....but that is where we start from...

what hotel do you stay at?

Anyone here fly into San Juan? We are facing that next February from a snowy destination, so anything can happen.

Any advice? The Viking Sea is overnight in San Juan but there have been some who didnt make it in even on the second day.

Our air is included.

I am reviving this topic.

We will be flying to San Juan using Viking air, which is included. It is only a 5 hour flight but seems that on a thursday there are not direct flights so we have to have a stop over. It will be a winter trip. So chances of delays, cancellations are very possible. What is the best way to proceed? Really dont want to go in a day before and have to stay in a hotel in San Juan.

Well I have a long wait then.

If anyone is doing this sailing, please join me on the Roll Call.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2607502

here it is...please join us there if you are on this sailing....

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2607502

ah yes..will try to do exactly that...

congratulations...but it is the summit..probably not selling well...

I have started a roll call for our first Viking O sailing for Feb 7, 2019 South America/Carib. If anyone else is doing this sailing, please join me there so we can share and look forward to meeting on the ship.

After some disappointing experiences on Celebrity for the last few years , we have booked some Oceania and one Viking O, cruise.

I have started a roll call and hope to meet others there. The best part of cruising can often be the people you meet and the experiences you share with them.

If anyone is doing this sailing, please join me on the roll call. It is really interesting to interact over the months leading up to the cruise and then meet on board.

Thanks wombatjoey for your assessment.

Having tried Oceania, a key message to folks who have cruised the mass lines, is that the premium lines like Viking, Oceania, Azamara etc are very different products.

Premium lines strive to be different, sometimes very different, from the mass lines. Smaller ships, less las vegas overall, higher standard of food and service for all guests, guests are expected to self entertain themselves to a greater degree, much less class segregation (all guests enjoy the restaurants), no ship in a ship arrangement, little to no nickle and diming, little to no shrilling for sales, focus on the ocean with exterior and interior viewing areas, easy on and easy off in ports, itineraries can be quite different than the mass lines.

The difference is dramatic.

 

It is important not to focus on price exclusively, because that discounts the vast difference in the product provided by the mass lines versus the premium.

Having tried Oceania, I am very satisfied and pleased beyond words.

Variety is the spice of life, people should try different cruise lines and see for themselves.

 

I have tried to say exactly that but you knew how to do it so well. Thank you.

It saddens me, we have done Celebrity for so many years. Have put our loyalty all into one basket. Now we no longer find is satisfactory. I still have Silhouette booked for the Carib for 2020, but 3 Ocenia and one Viking Ocean in between. Really dont know how I will go back.

I have now written about our poor experience in MDR several times. It prompted a cancellation for the Edge next winter and a booking on the Viking Ocean. The Edge will be a visual masterpiece but I am not sure about quality and variety of food. Especially if you are not in a Suite or Aqua.

yes I agree with you.

Please dont confuse Viking River with Viking Ocean, they are totally different ships and products.

Cruising Viking O, has nothing to do with aging and everything to do with spending our money wisely. Getting the best for our dollar.

Since you eat in Blu, you may not be aware of how poor the MDR is on Celeb ships. The buffet in Oceanview Cafe is excellent. If we do Celeb again, we will totally skip the MDR.

We have done one Oceania, the food was wonderful everywhere. Had no problem also getting reservations in Specialty dining which is included. We were in a regular balcony.

Also have a November cruise booked on Oceania, in a lowly inside but will eat in all the same venues as all others.

The only down side for us is we dont drink wine or hardly any other alcoholic beverages, so with Viking all inclusive, we are really paying for others. Thats ok, we will make up for it in sodas.

So you’re thinking you’ll have a Veranda cabin on Viking paired with food that is Murano or Luminae quality? That would certainly be appealing to me.

 

We can compare notes next year:). I will sail on Edge (Infinite Veranda) next April.

I have read the reviews for dining on the Viking and they have been outstanding. Yes will certainly want to know what kind of inclusive dining you will do on the Edge. Sounds like a plan. Let me know if you wish for me to leave my email contact.

As for tours...I have organized many on my own, some very small , some not so small. We rarely do ships tours because of the cost and lack of control over the itinerary. The Viking O included tours are your very basic, walking or panoramic tours. Not my fave, but since included we will do them. Our cruise is South America and the Carib. We have done most of the ports so not much to see.

I still think, doing a private tour is the best way to go over ANY ships tours even if included. But have found on cruises where tours are included, it is difficult to find others to join you on private tours and the roll calls are almost non existent.

We have done Celeb for a long time and are elite plus but this last time on the Eclipse we really got angry when night after night, it was the same menu we have had for numerous sailings but the quality of the food had deteriorated to such a degree that we gave up and ate in the Buffet.

Once we got home, we decided to see what else we could do for our money. Yes the suites on Celeb offer a wonderful dining experience in Luminae but regular balconies offer you only MDR and that is no longer acceptable to us.

That brought us to Viking. We are paying less than we would have for a balcony on the new Edge. The Viking Sea is also a new ship, two years old. So we will see. I will definitely let you know, but it is not till next Feb. a long time off.

Wombatjoey, which size cabin did you book on Viking? Are you comparing Veranda cabins of similar size?

We booked V2...it is 270 sq ft., veranda size is not that important to us, but good food and all that is included is.

I agree with your thought that the segregation of the Suite class from the general population will hasten the decline of many areas but the fact of the matter is that cruise industry is a business and all cruise lines will continue to cut back as much as they can. This would have happened with or without the new Suite Life. The only thing that will change this will be a decline in bookings that drops prices or causes ship to sail empty. If passengers no longer believe it is a good value, we need to explore other cruise lines or other ways to spend our vacations.

Yes I agree with that as well.

Love your quote and your opinions. We have cancelled the Edge in favor of a South America/ Carib itinerary on the Viking. It will be our first.

What led to this decision is our poor experience with the food in MDR, separate venues for different classes and the increase in prices on all Celeb products.

Our Viking cruise is less expensive than the balcony on the Edge and we are getting so much more included with the Viking all inclusive approach.

So for those of you who think Viking O is more expensive than Celeb. you are mistaken. Perhaps at first glance, but then Air is included, specialty restaurants, tours in all ports, all coffees, sodas, spas, etc. There is no separation of classes. All have access to the areas of the ships.

I am not saying I will never sail Celeb again, but my expectations will be different. I will be aware that if I dont book a suite, I will need to eat every night in the Buffet where the food was good. I will need to get used to bigger crowds again as the Viking ships hold 930 passengers.

they are talking about 2 different things. On one hand you have people talking about elitism and a class system, but those are a big red herring. Those terms take the conversation down an infinite rat hole because such a conversation just comes down to a wide range of opinions. Basically like the word elitism the result is an emotional discussion not a logical discussion.

 

Taking those terms out of it, a more logical question is has Celebrities decision to shift space and resources to higher end cabins and suites, resulted in less value, or a worse cruise experience, for the money spent for inside, ocean view, and standard balcony cabins. compared to prior to those changes.

 

Clearly the changes have resulted in Celebrity having substantial pricing power for the upper end cabins and suites, which they have also clearly used to their advantage. Since the change have been made we have also seen prices rise on the lower end cabins, but not nearly to the same degree. Clearly since Celebrity has been successful is creating a higher premium pricing level for the upper end cabins those that sail in them believe that the value is worth the price using whatever criteria they feel is important.

 

I use the term shift because a ship is a zero sum area, the cruise line has limited crew and public space, if they assign more personnel to activities associated with the benefits of the higher end cabins, it removes crew slots available to the people in the lower end cabins, same with physical space.

 

We have also seen a drop in quality or other changes during this period in some items that are not shifts in resources. The major one there is the quality of the food offerings in the main dining room.

your last two sentences are exactly my point