LB_NJ

With all the changes the people at Celebrity are as confused as the passengers. Even the web site has contradictory information. In one part of Celebrity's web site, it implies that the Classic Alcohol package doesn't include soda, etc. Last time I logged into my cruise planner it said the Classic Package includes Zero Proof. At the moment Celebrity is FUBAR. Unfortunately, it will probably take the crack IT team at Celebrity/Royal until February to start to resolve the inconsistencies.

FYI, the price to upgrade to premium is HIGH. You may want to do the math to see if it is worth it. No one really knows what is going on with the Classic and coffees, etc. however if I had to bet, I would say classic probably they are included otherwise just order things like ginger and bourbon and ask them to hold the bourbon. Dessert wine probably OK, who knows about things like Port, Madeira, and other fortified wines. It really depends on who is doing the inspection and decision making. Usually, it is port personnel/security who make the initial determination of what to let on and what to stop and they don't always know the rules of the particular cruise line.

I bought the non-alcoholic package for my upcoming cruise before it went away. I would not expect it to be offered on-board although there is a tiny chance it might be. At this point I assume if you don't buy a package then you go a la carte. FYI, they also got rid of the soda package and the fancy water package.

There are some cruises where charge $900 non-refundable so $500 is a deal. Non-refundable deposits are going on all over the place. Hotels, rental car companies are all giving discounts for non-refundable deposits. Personally, I am not sure I would book anything that far in advance given the changes going on with Celebrity and the cruise industry in general..

Any idea if this is classic or premium.

If the debt is US based, just means more money for the bankruptcy lawyers. Maybe a couple more hoops to jump through for US bankruptcy. I don't know specifically how RCL structures the ships. However, the ships might be put in an LLC to protect and isolate the parent company from liability if the ship causes a problem with significant potential economic liability.

I assumed the RCL stockholders would be wiped out. Pretty standard in almost any type of bankruptcy.

Royal allows pre-purchase cases of water, never saw anything about Celebrity. Most of the FAQs and the guest book they sent me do not say anything about non-alcoholic beverages. There is one discrepancy on the FAQs under what not to pack. The one on the US website doesn't say anything about non-alcoholic beverages. There is one FAQ that says non-alcoholic beverages are prohibited under "What not to pack." This looks like it is on the international FAQs. May only apply to international ports.

Depends how far you go back. Wikipedia says first commercial TA jet airplane service was 1958. It says that Pan Am used a Boeing 707. BOAC used a different model jet. Before that there was airplane service but initially multiple stops enroute. And even earlier there were airships however that is probably too far back.

They were never premium however, we sailed them once in 2018 and I thought they were good (we had an inside cabin). I asked one of the other pax onboard who had sailed a lot and they used the term "regular" to mean nothing special but not bad. To each his own.

There are reports that Celebrity intends to slash the dinner Buffet across the fleet in 2023. That is one of the reasons you are seeing posts like this from Celebrity passengers. No one knows for sure what will happen in 2023.

Back in the old days they did not charge for luggage.

Mine is to stop cruising/making future cruise reservations (there are alternatives) until service quality levels out and I can make an informed decision about whether I think the quality justifies the price.

Timeshare on your favorite ship.

So a comparison of AT LEAST all these classes. Princess Cruise - 3 classes of ships Celebrity - 4 classes of ships Royal Caribbean - 6 classes of ships Carnival - 9 classes of ships (depends on how you count) Norwegian - 8 classes of ships Oceania - 3 classes of ships And of course there are many more brands.

To put things into perspective. A really rough back of the envelope calculation (and I could be wrong) is that every day the per passenger interest cost that Celebrity and Royal have to pay out of fares, etc. is $50 on average. In other words, each passenger is paying on average $50 per person per day to cover the interest on Royal's debt. Of course, suite passengers are paying more per person per day than inside cabin people.

We have a cruise booked in April and have some specialty dining reservations we booked over black Friday. Given the current situation with MDR menus I am thinking that we might want to move the days we have specialty dining to the days we really don't like the MDR menu. Assuming availability, once we get on-board will we be able to move the date without having to cancel and rebook?

US airlines used to do this and survived (eg United Airlines). It is not always a last-ditch effort. Hertz has some other problems, but bankruptcy helped them.

To me that seems like a silly way of doing it. I would think it would be better to let people reserve at least 50% - 80% (release the reservation after 10 minutes if the person does not show) and leave the rest for walk ups. How is it working out in practice?

Given all the changes going on in the industry, if the difference is really only $180, I would certainly opt for fully refundable. FYI, if you do any significant alcoholic drinking while on a cruise then the All Included makes sense vs any of the packages that have gotten VERY expensive. Almost prohibitively expensive. Also, these days you might want to look into travel insurance that covers bankruptcy for cruises that far out.

In my opinion it is very easy, reorganization through Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code and continue to operate as debtor in possession corporation. This allows the company to shed its crushing debt and operate more freely.

I think the prohibition only applies to travel agencies because Cruise Critic makes money from travel agencies through their find a cruise page.

The cruise-only fare also used to include juices at breakfast.

What about on the other class of ships that have 1 MDR?

If it really was not changed then I see no reason for a complete refund. Whatever the standard cancellation and/or transfer policies apply.