phoenix_dream

You keep repeating this, but we are all waiting for confirmation that it is true. Not saying you are wrong, but how do you know this? Did you sail this month? Did you read it on another online forum? Were you told that by someone of authority at Celebrity?

I don't even eat lobster, but the nickel and dime charges being added here to me are nothing short of tacky. (and to charge that much - what the heck?!!?) Of the mainline cruise lines, Celebrity was always a step above. You always got a lot of special little extra touches with Celebrity which made it my cruise line of choice for close to 70 cruises. Now I'm starting to feel like I'm boarding a Kmart blue light special (yes, I'm dating my self LOL). I understand everything costs more now. I understand they need to recoup their Covid losses. But doing it this way just cheapens the brand IMHO. They are already charging considerably higher prices. But I honestly would prefer if they just upped everyone's cost $100 and stopped this pay extra, pay extra, pay extra nonsense.

I suspect there was a much better chance at this when people were required to present a negative Covid test prior to boarding. Not saying it couldn't happen anymore, but my point is that even if it's happened since restart, with testing now eliminated that might not be a good data point for evaluating future possibilities.

You will get all kinds of answers as to value. And costs differ by sailing of course, depending on availability. We always book Aqua when suites are too expensive for us. We love dining in Blu for breakfast and dinner. On M class, we like the extra cabin space. Not big spa people, but if you are and particularly in S or E class this is a nice perk. M class spas are not that impressive IMHO.

Some of the things mentioned in the original post surprised me. Are we sure they are all true, or did someone just experience them on one sailing and assume it applies to all? Or are these new to 2023 and confirmed? Specifically - - where is it announced that you can't order off MDR menu in Blu? We did in September. I'm not sure about E class, but never had an issue doing that on S or M. - what is reduced on the MDR menu? On our December cruise we often ordered off that menu and didn't notice any reductions - we got a tote bag in our cabin (granted it was as sky suite) in December. Not the nice one of old, but a bag - confused about a reduced classics menu? Where was that announced and what is missing? We ordered off that often in December as well I've heard about the room service charge which I don't like even though I never use it, and I know portions are smaller, but I confess never going hungry and except maybe for lobster you can order as much as you want I am concerned about the recent nickel and diming, and I don't like these things being sprung on you after you booked, although in fairness there would be no way for them to handle some passengers one way and others another. It would have been nice for some kind of an announcement to come out to advise people of upcoming changes - heaven knows they manage to send out enough emails to advertise their sales and to tell you about any positive changes!! If anyone can comment and confirm the changes I asked about above I would appreciate it!

I am of the same opinion. Have sailed January (early or later) and February multiple times in recent years and always full ships, or very close to it. Those of us retirees in cold climates love to head out of town to the Caribbean, often on B2B, and then some cruises.

Wouldn't trust the cabin "fridge" for dairy items like yogurt. It is not a fridge, it is a cooler. On some ships I have found it to really chill the contents, on others not so much. That's why people who need medicine refrigerated order portable fridges from Special Needs.

On recent suite cruises this year, our bags were always in disembarkation group 1, so yes, there was priority.

I was so annoyed when I read this I almost considered telling you why I do so as it is related to a health issue. But I never flush them. Enough said.

Wifi really varies a lot by ship, and then by where the ship is sailing. But to call home, you will need to upgrade to premium wifi. But as has been said, you can message home using apps like FB messenger, and possibly use their calling feature (I never tried to do that so can't comment on its feasibility). For connecting with others onboard the Celebrity app is free, just be aware that you do not get any notification noises or vibrations when a message comes in - it shows up on the screen but you have to notice it. Or if you all have basic wif you can message each other using FB messenger or Whatsapp.

One big question to answer - how much time do you spend on your balcony? We spend a lot so would never book a partial view (and definitely not an inside cabin). If you rarely spend time there, then it shouldn't affect you much. And even partial view balconies have some view so if you just periodically go out there you can still see the ocean or shore depending where you are. Besides location and view, pricing is based on availability. It could be that there are a lot of these types of cabins available so they are priced lower. We see strange pricing here and there. Usually Aqua is more than Concierge, but on some sailings it's been the opposite due to availability.

I agree with this. I use the same towels at home for several days. But there is not enough hanging space in the bathrooms for the towels to dry, especially since we shower both in the morning and when getting ready for dinner. I don't pay this kind of money to try to dry myself off with a damp towel. If there were extra towels placed there in the morning I guess that could work, although once again space is limited. I really don't care if they clean up anything else, and I don't care if they turn down the bed (although it is a nice touch). But the other point is this is not my home - this is a ship I am paying a lot of money to sail on and the little touches and extra level of service help make it special. Continue taking things away which seems like the current trend and it will not be so special anymore. And even though I sail in suites quite a bit lately, I don't like yet another class distinction between suites and non-suites. Non-suite passengers use the cabin facilities just as much as suite passengers do so why should there be a difference? Benefits (like Retreat Deck, lounge, etc.) ok - but everyone sailing on that ship deserves good cleaning/refreshing service no matter what cabin they are in., My opinion.

This would definitely affect our enjoyment of cruising with Celebrity (which we have been doing for going on 30 years!). DH orders the Caesar salad literally every night. I order the shrimp cocktail probably 50% of the time as I usually eat in Luminae and most of their apps are awful IMHO. French onion soup is also a common order, as again, many of the Luminae or Blu soup options are definitely not to our taste. And then there's the creme brule. One of the few desserts on Celebrity we enjoy. We would be EXTREMELY disappointed if they go this route as well, and honestly it could push us to another brand. We really enjoy the dining experience and removing Classics would be a real issue for us. Maybe that sounds silly to some people, but at our retirement ages we cruise to relax and a nice dinner is a big part of that for us. I don't want to pay the already quite high suite prices and have to choose from what we call too many "frou frou" choices.

Good for you - useless for those of us who need to fly in, unless we couple them with a side to side cruise or a back-to-back maybe. I'm really surprised Celebrity is doing this. These short cruises definitely attract a different type of crowd than the usual X sailing. I've been on a couple - definitely more of a party crowd. Maybe that's the idea. They want a younger demographic and maybe this is a way to attract one.

Very disturbing. I am not a CEO certainly, but as just a lowly passenger, I wonder why they are not considering that the post-Covid surge of travel will likely not continue for very long. Credit card debt is higher than it's ever been according to the news. People were willing to splurge and treat themselves after being shut down for so long. It's painfully obvious that this trend can't reasonably continue. They keep building and building bigger and bigger and bigger ships they need to fill. Where does it end?? If they keep cutting benefits and adding more and more surcharges a lot of what made cruising an ideal vacation will dry up.

I do not even order room service but am very disappointed with this change. What next?? Hearing talk of doing the same thing as Royal and eliminating the Classics menu in the dining room (which will really, really affect us as our go-to's on every cruise are Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail, french onion soup - we have it multiple times every cruise. And we feel half the salads and apps in Luminae are godawful so rely on Classics). And then hearing talk of charging extra for an extra lobster tail. Rumor, not yet fact. Portion sizes are already reduced (although I definitely don't go hungry and don't like waste so that isn't a huge change for me). I understand the need to recoup after Covid shutdown. And I understand this is a business. But with prices as high as they are recently they are already getting quite a bit more $$ from me than before. I'm a very long time Celebrity cruiser (30 years) and it may be time to look elsewhere. I sincerely hope it doesn't come to that. We've loved Celebrity for many years but nice dining is one of the things we enjoy most. If that changes we may as well.

They were not when we sailed one in early 2020, although the comfortable deck furniture was replaced with uncomfortable deck furniture. I don't mind the old look (in many ways prefer it) but hopefully they have good mattresses.

Been on about 15 cruises since restart. On most cruises food quality was slightly less but still good. Portion sizes have definitely decreased but I never went hungry. I think a lot of the reported quality issues are due to inexperienced staff. In order to stay afloat, passenger loads increased way faster than staff could keep up, especially since later last year. Affected service and quality overall. Lots of new staff on every cruise we sailed. I think some of this will work out in time as the staff gets more experience.

Just keep in mind several things. 1) the ship does not always dock on time. We have been held onboard until 9:30 a couple of times. Not common, but it can and does happen 2) are you flying somewhere where there are lots of flight options should you miss yours or is it a place with one or two per day? 3) flights these days are almost always 100% full (at least the 20 or so I've been on in the past year). If you miss your flight, it could be many hours, if not days, until you can get on another flight 4) do you live close enough that, worst case, you can rent a car and drive home? Can you afford the time and $$ to stay in Florida for a day or two or three until you can get on another flight? 5) what day of the week is it and what other ships are arriving? Catch a day when several of the megaships are arriving as well and taxis and ubers can be more scarce and airport lines much longer 6) are you flying international or in the US? Do you have screening priority? Are you checking or doing carry-on? Given all the above considerations we never book before 11:00. We've made flights as early as 10:00 when the airline change our flight time, but we literally were running to our gate and the last ones onboard. True story. (granted, this was before the days of walk-off with luggage)

No, they don't. But many of us do B2B's (and then some) or sideways cruises jumping on another ship while in the home port. For example, my 21 days onboard was a 10 and 11 day B2B. Not to criticize any of the other answers with good and helpful information, but I was wondering about those who are on the same ship for 6 weeks, or several months at a time.

Thank you all so far for the interesting responses. I understand about the 7 day versus longer cruise being a different type of vacation. I do many of the things people are suggesting. I confess I do miss my TV, and my provider will only let me download 6 shows at a time to my tablet. Sometimes I am able to download on the ship but usually the wifi doesn't permit. I'm sure if I were taking the longer cruises in more interesting places than the Caribbean I would enjoy them more. I also really enjoy getting to know the crew. There are a number of them over the years that I still keep in touch with via Facebook, as we have cruised many times (69 I think is the current number) on Celebrity. I also like to meet new passengers onboard as well. Have several B2B's booked for 2023, but the longest is 18 days, with 10 sea days (Caribbean). Fortunately each goes to the ABC's (or parts of them), which are my favorites.

Two important points to remember for future: 1) online booking agencies are just that - they are not TA's and you do not get the same level of service you would get from a TA 2) it is your responsibility to remember when payments are due

For me it would not be. Even when we sail Aqua Class we rarely use it. To me the nicest part of the whole area is the heated loungers. Good luck ever finding a lounger available. Despite rules, people hog them for hours and hours, often sleeping on them.

It's always amazed me when I meet fellow passengers onboard who have been on the ship for literally months doing B2B2B and on and on. I think the longest I've encountered has been 3 months but I'm sure there are longer ones here and there. My longest B2B was 21 days and for me that was pushing it. Wondering just what people do on those longer cruises to continue the enjoyment? The production shows stay the same. The lounge entertainment often stays the same for several sailings at least. The menus, while offering some variety, stay the same cruise to cruise. Most activities repeat. Television is a joke unless you are a news or soccer fanatic. The libraries, if you are lucky enough to be on a ship that has one, usually don't have much variety of books (I know there are digital books - I just personally prefer book in hand). I can only do so many crosswords or games of Qwix or Yahtzee. I get free laundry and am not afraid to wear something two or three times a cruise, but I think I would get tired of wearing the same outfits for weeks or months at a time. On many of these cruises of which I speak it has been the same or similar Caribbean ports over and over and over. Maybe if I was a beach fan that would be nice but I'm kinda done with that now that the kids are grown. And what about family and friends? I know these days having internet can really help with that but it's not the same as being in person. I'm not criticizing, just honestly curious. DH would love to convince me to sail longer periods of time but I'm not sure how I would handle it. Feedback?

I’m with you. Love the food onboard and have no real interest in finding other food onshore, especially in a place like the Caribbean. Maybe I’d feel differently cruising someplace like Europe. Also seems silly to me to pay all that money for nice meals and then go eat elsewhere. But to each their own. If someone enjoys it, then good for them.