prmssk

I’m not trying to be spiteful. I’m trying to understand why you and a couple others think Carnival is comparable to Celebrity and what it is about Celebrity that keeps bringing you back. It sounds like itinerary is what drives your decisions.

Within 2 weeks - I think it was closer to 10 days for my last one.

I'm not trying to say it is all about saving money. When someone calls something a competitor, I assume they are talking about a fairly comparable product or service that overall competes for the same passengers. That's not to say there can't be any overlap in passengers. I'm talking about overall. I'm not sure they are that comparable. They market to different demographics. They provide a bit different of an experience. Those things alone separate them enough that I don't see them as competitors. Furthermore, based on my own experience, I don't think the service and food in general are comparable. And since I don't think they are competitors based on demographics and the experience/vibe, I don't think they have to compete with Celebrity on food and service. And so my question to those who think they are competitors (assuming we are defining competitor the same way), why would you spend so much more money for Celebrity (and Celebrity generally, with some exceptions is quite a bit more expensive than Carnival), if you think the product is comparable? There must be something about Celebrity that makes Celebrity stand out or I assume you would go book a Carnival cruise.

We are booked through October of 2025 currently. Our 2025 cruises were booked Celebrity Ascent (January 2025) - 757 days ahead of time MSC World America (October 2025) - 923 days ahead of time We often book when itineraries are released which is usually 18 months to 2.5 years out.

Yet are still cruising Celebrity (with no more Carnival booked) according to your signature.

For those of you saying Carnival is a competitor, why aren’t you booking Carnival instead of Celebrity? You would save a ton of money! (I say this as someone who occasionally sails Carnival and thinks Carnival has an important place in the cruising industry. I just don’t think the experience is so comparable to Celebrity that I think it competes for the same general group of customers.)

We have two MSC cruises on the books and I am really looking forward to trying them to see how they compare.

Except at the same time, those lines are making their own cuts. As someone who has sailed on some of those other lines in recent months, I don't think the gap is closing as much as people on this thread think it is.

The MDR menus from HAL I have seen include an uncharge section with things like lobster and at least one type of steak (quite similar to what is being discussed in this thread) but maybe that doesn't extend to Club Orange.

I spent 29 days on two different Princess cruise ships last year (and have spent 22 days on 2 different Celebrity ships since the restart) and did not have a great food experience on either Princess ship. Although the MDRs on both lines wasn't significantly different, the buffet on Celebrity blew away the very sad state of Princess's buffet. Unless people have the money to move up to more luxury lines, I'm not sure they are going to find something better elsewhere (and even those luxury lines are making cuts).

This is just chances of scattered and isolated storms in Bermuda which is different than the middle of the ocean during your sea days. Your Captain will likely try his best to navigate around any that are showing on radar. I doubt you will have a rain out.

Just curious, have you sailed any of HAL's other ships since the restart? If so, how do they compare? I'm hearing pretty good reviews out of their Pinnacle class ships but horrible reviews out of the rest of their ships. Just based on reviews it seems they are focusing all their energy on just their newest ships. And even those HAL ships have up charges on their MDR menu, right?

Half the menu? So the menu is now only a total of 6 items? Aside from certain classics not appearing every day (which was a change months ago if I recall), I’m missing what has been eliminated with the addition of these up charge items (aside from lobster night on short cruises). But then most of this thread is based on what people are seeing in an app that is notorious for being wrong as we are only on day 2 of this Equinox cruise that is affected.

You are not the first to point me to post #55 and it doesn’t actually give us any confirmation as Chic Night has not happened yet on their cruise so they can’t have seen the menu yet. Furthermore, someone else who is on board mentioned crew said the elimination of included lobster on the second Chic Night is only for cruises less than seven nights. So we are talking about a small minority of Celebrity cruises and I’m not even sure lobster was always served on those cruises. I don’t remember it on my last five night cruise with Celebrity.

I understand that but Chic Night has not actually happened yet. And I have seen plenty of inaccuracies in the app even after the cruise started.

No, I have even seen plenty of inaccuracies after I board. I don’t ever fully trust the app. And eliminating lobster night on short cruises is quite different from eliminating it altogether. I’m not even sure it was offered on my last five night cruise with Celebrity. And Chic Night where they would expect lobster has not happened yet, unless I am misunderstanding.

6/24 hasn’t happened yet and the app is notorious for being wrong. Does anyone who is currently on board looking at the paper menu for the chic night we normally see these things that can confirm they are actually gone? Ideally from more than one ship or cruise so we know this isn’t just a fluke on this cruise. There just seems to be a pretty regular panic about something that doesn’t turn out to be fully accurate or as bad as it seems once we have all the information. And RC has had a similar premium menu for a while now and still offered the complimentary formal night items like lobster. So the existence of this menu is not enough to convince me it’s time to panic.

Any confirmation they are eliminating the lobster on the Chic Night? This may be just a way to offer these dishes every night for a fee but still offer an included lobster on Chic Night. If so, they haven’t actually taken anything away.

Cruise ships can often drive around the storms so I wouldn’t assume you will be completely rained out. But if it does happen, yes, everyone comes inside so it has more of the vibe of a cold weather cruise.

It's not even a lot of perks anymore (embarkation day lunch in the MDR, bottle of sparkling wine if you request it, daily canapés, etc.). Here is a list to all the benefits: https://www.celebritycruises.com/things-to-do-onboard/staterooms/concierge-class-stateroom

That's an S class ship (just like the Eclipse) so booking a concierge class (or even Aqua class) doesn't give you any more room than a standard veranda.

Which ship? On M Class ships the concierge class cabins are bigger than the veranda cabins but neither really are that large. On S and E class ships, concierge class cabins are identical to standard veranda cabins.

My understanding is that the reasoning behind the Jones Act and PVSA is to protect US companies that ferry passengers (and cargo) between different US ports (US companies aren't subject to the restrictions of the PVSA or Jones Act). A closed loop cruise (start and end at the same US port) isn't moving cargo or people to a different US port. All one-way Alaska cruises either start or end in Vancouver, Canada and so PVSA and the Jones Act doesn't even apply. Passengers (or cargo) aren't being moved from one US port to another.

It's actually a guarantee verandah cabin (or guarantee Oceanview for the same). Insides start at $899 for a guarantee on that cruise (at least when I looked when this post was first posted). And why wouldn't some book a deal like this? There are plenty of people out there looking for a deal who don't care where there cabin is. They could add on the drink and wifi packages they want and still come out ahead.

Distance doesn't matter when determining whether it is a distant foreign country. Mexico doesn't count. South America (like Columbia) and the ABC islands are considered distant foreign ports which is why one-way Panama Canal cruises between California and Florida always stop at one of those ports. Downline disembarkation is very possible in a lot of countries. I'm guessing the agents either aren't looking closely at your itinerary or still need training. You can always submit the form and see what they say but I do not expect they will grant it due to the PVSA and if for some reason they do, they could revoke it when someone realizes the fines they would incur.