jonthomas

the pool was cold......

no improvement of wifi....

we just came back from the refitted Riviera, food was excellent and I am very picky.... I dont eat seafood, but do eat fish...there were many more options of sea food free salads in the terrace café than there were on the Marina in November.... in general , food was much better than the Marina....

thank you for your review.... we will be on the Insignia for a holiday cruise in 2024. Hopefully it will be refitted by then although no info has been given in that regard... it is a very pricey cruise, if things do not improve for food, service and state of ship, we will be cancelling....

the refit was not done sloppily on the Riviera, it is beautiful. Anyone else recently sail the Riviera and would compare to the" unrefitted" Marina?

yes you are correct...but a few kids on O compared to a constant hoard of at least 200, no matter what time you sail on Celeb, to me feels like NO kids on O.

our cruise did not go up...but agent screwed it all up...now dealing with management to sort it all out...hate when that happens...but not all TAs are savvy and interested in getting the bottom line for their clients....

Perhaps if we did not just sail on the refitted Riviera we would not think the Marina is in bad shape. But once you have seen the redone bathrooms, staterooms and new carpets everywhere, you think differently about what you experienced on the Marina. Has anyone else been on the Riviera after the refit that can make that comparison?

we are on the Viking Star in March, using up our Covid credits. O is now our line of choice. but looking forward to a vivacious CD. Hope she will still be there. What type of activities did you have available to you during the day? Since this is an O topic, can you email me .... johthomas100z at gmail dot com yes it is johthomas 100z at gmail dot com

We were also Elite Plus, with over 50 Cruises on Celeb. Once the "suite life" appeared, everything changed for those not regular cabins. To pay for suites we might as well be on O. On O there are no kids, excellent food, smaller ships, a clientele that prefers a quieter, more intimate atmosphere....just suits us perfectly.... Once the separation between Suites and Regular class began, Celeb really introduced an atmosphere of privilege. You could meet people and wish to dine with them and they would say oh no we are not in your class, we dine elsewhere. just wish we had not stayed with Celeb so long, all that loyalty amounts to nothing. O includes all the perks we got with Elite Plus and offers so much more in their loyalty program. If we had over 50 cruises with O we would have by now had a few free cruises, with all kinds of other perks. It is not more expensive than suites on Celeb, but O gives you so much more.

yes the Chrismas/New years on the Insignia for dec/Jan 2024 is part of this sale....but will wait for a better sale as it is quite expensive....I think it is part of the sale because all is available..

yes, and depends on whether your agent understands how to do this.... ours clearly does not.... we have an insignia for 2024, New Years, will wait for a real sale to do this....it is quite expensive....

yes better to wait for the presidents sale and then hope an agent can figure out how to apply it...someone here told me to use the phrase "best price" guarantee to get it applied....

need to have an agent that can understand all the intricacies...ours clearly does not...now trying to restore what we had...she went ahead without our permission and cancelled what we had ...so now we are paying more and getting very little in return.... .

ours went ahead and applied it without our permission...lost the gratuities...now manager is trying to restore what we had...a big mess....

very easy and fast in Miami on Jan 14.... not so when we had to do it in San Juan in November....no one could get back on ship until all were cleared...took hours....

"How about a statement put out as to this refit cancellation. Those cruising Nov. 13, 2023 and beyond booked believing they were on a refitted ship. " yes exactly.....

NO idea when it will be refitted. We were just on the refitted Riviera, bathrooms are very nice, staterooms have a new look and feel. We were on the Marina in November, bathrooms need re doing, staterooms tired and dated. We will be on the Marina again in November of 2023, really hope they decide to refit by then, but doubt it will happen since some say it is fine as it is. It is NOT fine, JMHO.

I love fish....just not the rest, like shrimp, lobster, etc.... we played all the trivia....all the activities...came home with a lot of loot...lol now there is a promo for the 600 Obc...but we are pretty much booked up....have only one future cruise cert that has the old promo for price reduction and 300 OBC...they have now stopped that and only offering 100 OBC...wish I had gotten 2 FCCs....Would add on a leg or two to our existing reservations... the new itins come out in April, will use it towards them.... I didnt get to find any recommended TAs as I planned to....no one had anyone to recommend... our next is on Viking in March, using up covid credits....O is our line of choice now... next O is in Sept to Alaska...

great meeting you Robjame, but didnt see you for the rest of the cruise.... yes we had a great time....mainly because of so many friendly people we met.... the food was better for me....less sea food in salads...had many more choices.... we are not on the Riviera again...she will be in Asia... we will be on the "unrefitted" Marina....

but we also have 2 that are the same price...so will see what the TA says....would love to use that "best price guarantee" and receive the 600 OBCs

We are also just back from the Riviera Jan 4 to 14 cruise. Very good cruise. Best part, meeting so many wonderful people. Really needed more time. Yes to Pizza from Waves Grill. Many salads did not have sea food in them, so had lots to chose from. Staterooms very nice. Very easy immigration back in Miami, took only a couple of minutes, no line ups, not like we experienced in San Juan. Our next on O is to Alaska, Sept 4. It is included in the anniversary sale but at a higher price, so no sale for us. shout out to Fred and Sue, RobJames, I didnt get to see you after the meet and greet, where were you...lol... hoping to see many familiar faces again on our next one....

We have a couple of applicable bookings, but our fares are much lower. Will ask our TA if she can get us the extra OBCs but I know the answer.

which ship is better for two grandboys, ages 4 and 6?

must be something I like since I have 6 more future cruises booked... I like the general ambiance, the activities, the O points, the lectures, the O loyalty program... after a life time sailing Celeb, elite plus gets us a specialty coffee and free internet....you get all that on O without doing 50 cruises...