tfred

no other advice. The champagne was Duval Leroy and we had no complaints The other status pluses seem to be a function of the "better" suites. We were never room service people but the room service breakfast on Silversea is excellent The butler is really your main contact that you see everyday. You will be eating in different restaurants so the ability to establish rapport with the waitstaff is less than you would be used to on X. We had a great butler. We had champagne and caviar a few times during the week delivered after we were back on the ship and before dinner. The laundry is a big plus In by 9 am and back by 5 pm same day. In a warmer climate it really cuts down on the number of clean clothes that you have to bring.

we are (and still) frequent cruisers on X. We like it and we usually stay in The Retreat We sailed on Moon this past summer (11 night Rome-Venice) and loved it I think that you only have to have a jacket of some sort - not necessarily a suite and/or tux. You can wear the if you want and there will be a number of men similarly dressed. My guess is that there will be two "formal" nights. No matter where you are flying from you can fit a sport coat in your luggage some thoughts you should make reservations in the restaurants that you can - dont leave it to chance. Atlantide with no reservations is good. La Terrazza is very good and should be reserved ahead of time. The Grill is fun at night at least once. SALT restaurant is great. The SALT bar (next to it) is excellent The butler is the main point of contact and they can do a lot for you - restaurant rez, Caviar in your room, bubble bath (yeah - its good) What is your status level on X? You should status match to Silversea. If you are Elite on X you get free laundry and that is big.

I look at other travel related stocks to see how they are performing against RCL. Marriott is my favorite, probably since I spent 7 years of my adult life staying in them with business travel The two stocks have similar stock curves since 2020. They both "crashed" and then have strongly rebounded at more or less the same valuations Marriott has a large stake in business travel, while RCL is almost all leisure. Marriott and RCL are similar to me in that they both have a strong portfolio of brands, consistent product no matter which one you choose (no surprises at check in) and a recognizable pathway to move up in accommodations They also have a frequent stayer program that recognizes the end user in some way shape or form - sometimes it is just saying "we appreciate your business".

that will last 5 minutes until someone says "make that Alexander with the good stuff". The liquor purchases are just part of an overall effort to cut costs in every department. The selection is certainly "acceptable" but I wouldn't call it luxury It ticks all the boxes of anticipated types of liquors but some of the selections are less than inspiring.

that really isn't true. Probably suggested by the business that doesn't have wet cleaning equipment Wet cleaning is more prevalent in Europe than the USA. Certainly on a cruise ship wet cleaning would be used as ships are very concerned about storing any chemicals

it will come back fine. wet cleaning uses special detergents (as stated above) and is a better method to clean fabrics. There really isnt anything "dry" in dry cleaning Safer on the environment, clothes smell nicer as well

I would look at Silversea. We are X fans but the Silversea offerings (at X Retreat level pricing) are worth a look we did a Rome to Venice on Silversea this year. Basically the same price as X but a big notch up. Smaller ship, smaller ports, less crowds, better food.

The closeness of the sail date savings would be offset by the airfare increase Revenue management would have a better idea, but how long can they wait for a double before converting to a single. airlines always sell single seats. All inclusive resorts may be a different story

I think that this is intended. Silversea's new 2026 med sailings do have enough repetitive back and forth to make it planned. My guess is that they are looking for a newer to cruising people that are looking for the next level up ship (as compared to Celebrity). Those folks have a certain time they can take for vacay and they know what would be their "ideal" cruise with ports would be. They haven't been really anywhere on a cruise (maybe Caribbean) and now the next biggie is the Med. They are not looking for nomads (pun intended) who are looking for a unusual itinerary. You may get some of that but they all won't be an adventure into the Heart of Darkness

RCL at least has the ability to have a good, better, best selection of moving up with RC,X snd S. Always difficult, but at least they have a chance of systems, ordering and logistic integration. Add in some level of marketing harmony (VS status with corresponding RC and X) gives a pathway for customer retention Carnival has a bunch of non-interconnected lines that are kinda the same - just for different geographic markets. Princess, P&O, Costa, Carnival, Aida, HAL are all the same Seabourn and Cunard are obviously different but not a real connection Seabourn pax would be aghast at saying that they are sailing a Carnival flagged ship Debt load is a concern but someone is lending them money, even after the Genting HK Crystal meltdown ...........

the average board member here is a highly skewed sample. Cruise fanatics that take more vacations than anyone else I ever knew who were working There are plenty of people who take two vacations a year - one maybe to a resort. The push is to get the land resort people literally on board. Poaching from other cruise lines is not a plan to succeed with as all you get is price shoppers RC Group has figured out how to show value and get marginally higher prices than the competition That extra margin is all profit.

RCL has figured out what show value to their intended customer. Most pax have a budget and won't exceed it so no matter how much "value" they show it will be too expensive. Silversea can be a great value but at bigger fares that may be unattractive no matter the value. They are only a money making machine at one's expense if you give them money.

seen the price of Carnival stock vs RCCL? RCCL is blowing it out of the water. RCCL is beating them in every metric and that is reflected in the stock price bottom line is that that Carnival can't figure out how to show value so they have to moderate their prices.

I think that the X Caribbean cruiser is narrow in what they like Once people make the decision to go on a European cruise the that tells me they are somewhat more adventuresome.

X and others are good with Caribbean cruises. No surprises and easy ports The other ports that you mention are more difficult for X as big ships means big ports. If you are in a standard veranda the big ships at that pricing is 'attractive" Also, if you are comfortable with X via the Caribbean , it is natural to choose X for the next BIG cruise - usually Italy If you start looking at Retreat pricing then, to me keeping it in the family, Silversea makes way more sense. Pricing is very close and smaller ports, smaller ships closer to the action Better experience in total

70% of RCL group cruisers are from North America and many of those folks want to eat what they are familiar with - maybe one or two different things Judging by a lot of the posts about food many people are plain/picky/selective eaters or maybe one notch above. Some complaints are very close to "the food is touching".

one does have to look frequently. many people have to fit a schedule for work and that is that we are lucky - live in south Florida, retired, dont care about the itinerary and can choose any number or weeks in January or February It is harder to find equivalent prices in "luxury" lines ex Florida. Way less cruises to choose from with generally harder to get to embarkation ports.

That Skift article pretty much says it all. RCL Group has a plan and it appears to be on track. Looking at the Celebrity board, there are many who are moaning about the increasing cost of X cruises. The cost of cruises is now approaching the daily rate at a "better" land resort - and it should be as the value is there. I can see where RCLG is using some of the same management approaches on Silversea as RC and X - it only makes sense Offering a consistent product from ship to ship throughout the year takes work. That doesn't mean that Silversea will become RCL with better champagne but they will cut out bits and pieces that didn't really offer any value to the end user. Midnight chocolate buffets went the way of the dodo, although people wax poetic about them - they just never ate anything from them

we can all dream.

look at the X ads on tv. https://www.ispot.tv/brands/IgU/celebrity-cruises All of them focus on a "vacation" and not a cruise. It is a floating resort with all the amenities of a land hotel. My casual convos with first time cruisers indicates that they are pretty happy There is a whole range of resorts - from the old time Holi-domes to Marriotts to Ritz Carltons. They set their pricing based on what they think they offer against all week long vacation competition. RCL Group with three lines tries to match up pricing against what is out there. I took a quick look at Sandals Jamaica in mid January and it isn't cheap All inclusive with a balcony room is about $1k a night - similar to The Retreat. Iberostar in Aruba is $900. There are a whole range of all inclusive in Mexico and the Caribbean but the average person doesnt know the quality of them.

the butler handles all the laundry needs, but obviously doesnt actually do the laundry Generally in by 9 am and returned same day around 5.

occupancy for the RCL Group was around 110%, meaning that they are fully booked plus enough room with an extra one or two people in them. With that scenario there is little reason to offer attractive solo fare since all the cabins are booked, then some. More people on board means more revenue and profit.

you are making the wrong comparison. RCL group is now looking at pricing differential against land resorts and not the competing cruise lines. The CEO determined that they are 20% less expensive than land resorts on a nightly and weekly basis. To RCL, the other cruise lines are leaving money on the table Looking at the JW Marriott Marco Island (pretty nice hotel), a standard water facing room is $821/night. Food and booze are extra and it isn't hard to spend $500/day on B/L/D plus assorted drinks for 2 people. $10 K for a week Our Retreat suite on Apex during the same week is just about the same price. Apex includes entertainment, casino and other fun things

Continue to fly to FLL and Uber or train to Miami

we live just above Fort Lauderdale We can leave the condo at 10 am and be in the cabin at 11 am drinking a Pina Colada . No airport, check luggage, find the hotel, uber to the ship concerns. Many of the "luxury" cruise lines sail from Barbados, St Martin etc and that requires another level of planning that don't want to do in a post Holiday vacation Summer is a different story That vacation is more involved (some land hotels) and longer (generally 5-6 weeks) so I dont mind more logistics I know plenty of people that go to the same hotel in the Keys every year. X ships are the same to us and actually are a better deal than something like the JW Marriott Marco Island. That hotel is at $821 a night (water view and balcony) in January (the same week as our cruise) plus food and booze. No entertainment either