tigervixxxen

Wow, we were in Aqua on the Equinox over New Years and got the canapés! I was also told they stopped the tea, I was bummed out because I love iced tea and was really looking forward to that perk. I was also told NO BAG of laundry existed anymore and that laundry was only a la carte, either this was another lie or temporary change. We also had the expanded FREE room service menu, I ordered an omelette. I guess that was changed right after we left too.

I was on the Equinox over New Years. It was chic night and there was a deck party with a countdown at midnight, it wasn’t exclusive to what was offered in the specialty restaurants. I personally wouldn’t pay 3x the price for a holiday offering with a couple more dishes, it’s still the same restaurant. But of course it’s open to everyone’s interpretation of how to make something special.

I’m a bit skeptical the crew actually sees their gratuities and it’s pooled fleet-wide apparently. I’m sure they get some additional line item in their checks but how that corresponds to what people are paying in gratuities, I have my doubts.

I take it that hotel and transfers are not included, it’s just the flights? My understanding is other cruise lines air programs add this for buying air through them but you don’t get much choice/control on the flights is the difference. I always book everything myself so this isn’t something I’ve done either way but this is my understanding of it.

I love the pork schnitzel, I’m hoping it appears back on the menu for longer cruises

I think the alarming thing is that something is truly changing on a daily basis. I’ve only been actively posting here again for a couple months in advance of my cruise and all the “issues” are piling up in just the short time I’ve been paying attention. The only one that truly impacts me so far is the reduced MDR offerings and I’ll see how I feel about that in person. DH tires of the MDR on a good day so we’ll see how problematic it becomes. But it really is making me think twice about booking our next cruise.

1. I believe yes to all you asked about the classic drinks package 2. gelateria is not free but one scoop is free per cruise per person if you are a captains club member 3. You only pay the 20% gratuity on a drink outside of your package, otherwise the gratuity has already been paid as part of your package. If you pay for a $15 drink separate, you’ll be charged $5 plus 20% gratuity. 4. concierge has the embarkation day lunch, priority tenders and debark I believe. Use to have the afternoon canapés I think but they stopped doing those. 5 points per night for loyalty instead of 3 and I guess concierge can help with things. I believe that’s everything? Better room locations as well but you know that by your room location.

The flash sales on thinks like drinks and wifi are real, we’ll see if one pops up. The Labor Day booking sale is just like all the others.

Pretty sure the intention is the change for cruises booked on Oct 4th and after. Therefore existing bookings won’t be impacted. Obviously get confirmation of that from Celebrity but that’s how I read it. “Please note: As of October 4, 2023, All Included package pricing was modified to align with the evolving needs of our guests and offer added flexibility when booking. Starting October 4, 2023, newly purchased All Included packages do not include tips other than the tips included as part of the Beverage Package pricing.“

If they had made the warm cookies free at the gelato counter I bet they would have sold more scoops of gelato. That’s what true marketing big thinkers would have realized.

Does Carnival still have self serve washing machines? We used to knock out a load of laundry that way, much quicker and you weren’t subject to the commercial washers.

You can use the app at anytime, you don’t have to be on the ship.

It had nothing to do with how much someone used the package it was what it would cost to buy during a flash sale for drinks and wifi plus the gratuity is about $88 total.

There’s no need to go to the MDR if you can eat in Luminae. If there’s a dish on the MDR menu you want I’m sure they’ll bring it to you. You can have a table for 2, we always get that on anytime dining, if you are stuck with early just go talk to them on embarkation just to be sure you’ve been assigned a table for 2. Specialty restaurants have all times, some are in the app, some you need to reserve on board as they hold some times back, ask on board. I dont think you choose table size but many are for 2.

Someone here worked out the value to $88 per day the value of AI. So do the math on what they are offering, everything with pricing on Celebrity varies. If you skip it then there will be sales on the drinks and wifi. We like AI as to not worry about what’s included but it has to make sense with the pricing.

Because they deleted the previous menu and haven’t put in the new one

My understanding is that this means the minimum bid numbers are discounted but it doesn’t really change what a successful bid might be, it just gets more people to do it with a lower minimum. It shouldn’t impact what you’ve already bid, though I guess you could change it to the lower minimum if you wanted and it’s not locked.

I was going to bid on this for my sailing but there’s such limited quantities per sailing I doubt it’s even available and apparently every single cabin category is available to bid?

What is currently available on other ships isn’t exactly indicative of how this new change will be implemented. The Equinox seems to be a test ship for some of these changes. So the whole thing bears watching.

Don’t expect it anywhere but the Silhouette now

I don’t eat those other proteins and my husband certainly will be ordering the Chateau so lobster is my only choice anyway. Anything flambéed with bacon had to be good enough.

Honestly the most hilarious part of that is sign to charge gratuity for someone handing you a cookie.

After all the talk on these boards about bid upgrades nobody ever mentioned every category is up for bid regardless if there’s availability or not. If there’s nonsense pricing the cabin probably isn’t even available.

I could certainly live with that. How do you sign up? Is it on the ship or beforehand?

It is difficult to say, your cruise is too far our for accurate menus. You can look at the current sailing and get an idea. As far as formal nights, if I had to guess day 2 and day 9 because they prefer to have them on sea days and on longer cruises with options they won’t hold it the last night.