QuestionEverything

Thanks so much for your review. We were on Insignia in August leaving from Iceland. The crew was wonderful indeed. Enjoy your voyage!🍾

Thank you for your analysis. Interesting. My thoughts are focused on the physical construction of the vessel, not the price point. Thanks for advising that the ship still retains forward views, that is so important in being on a vessel. Unfortunately many new ships have lost the forward view. Regards.

Thanks for your review. Indeed look around for other options. You are the consumer and you are the boss, not the cruise lines. The Celebrity of today is not the Celebrity of the past, the downward trend is becoming more obvious.

How do you know that?

Correct. Hence why we do not generally patronize the mass lines, only the Premium and Luxury brands as they do not have this overt caste system. They still have some perks for being higher categories, but there is no real segmentation of the ship. Eliminating forward views is absolutely not acceptable to us. The QM2 is our favorite ship and there are magnificent forward views inside and outside.

Much discussion about the insane pricing of the Celebrity suites versus actual Premium and Luxury class lines. Celebrity gets away with it I guess because there are enough consumers who believe the suite class on Celebrity is great. Not. I have cruised on Oceania and had wonderful product - everyone on Oceania gets great experience, no class apartheid on Oceania, unlike Celebrity.

I get it. It is the cruise industry period. The product downgrading and, frankly the contempt for the customer displayed by all lines, this consumer is not accepting this. We have 1 cruise booked on Oceania in Jan 25, SE Asia. No other cruises considered. Moving our travel $ to land vacationing and a brand new Fab SUV. Driving North America. My cruise in Jan 25 - 1 year from now has limited bookings - Oceania just took $2,000 pp off the pricing, I locked in. Yes, lack of interest. Tells me something indeed.

Oceania fundamentally changed the product offering that someone paid for. Oceania owes the customer, not the other way around. Period.

Greetings hcat. Your posts are excellent. Oceania vessels are good sized and it allows them to frequent more unique destinations. The food is certainly better than X and that is for every guest on the ship. Service is very high end. Oceania started the Simply More July 1. I booked not realizing the change and did not realize till later. My Oceania cruise is Jan 25 to the SE Asia. It is 15 days, 13 ports. So the "free" drinks at lunch are not happening due to excursion timing even though I am forced to pay for them. The "free" drinks are only at lunch and dinner, no other time, get that. Further, you pay over $600 pp for the shore excursions whether you use them or not. If they are cancelled/supplier issues and it does not happen, you do Not get a refund. This is such that I will not book Oceania again until this anti - consumer decision is removed.

Hence why like some posters above, I am moving my travel $ increasingly away from cruises to land vacations. I travel for the itinerary, not food/shows etc. Cruise line reducing time in port, cancel for "reasons" is not acceptable to me. Check out the NCL thread on port changes - very upset people. Oh yes, and cruise lines, your "environmental" excuse is Garbage, yes Garbage. And the "it is in the contract" is total bull. There may be many obedient consumers who will tolerate this anti customer treatment, but not me.

I 100% agree, Oceania is far superior to Celebrity For Every Guest, in every category; service, food, ocean views, access. Many posters here do not realize when Celebrity started way back in 2001 (I sailed on the Zenith then), Celebrity was the Oceania of the day - Celebrity was innovative and high end. The decline of Celebrity from that to a mass cruise line with huge ships, some with no balconies, some with no forward view and ship in a ship apartheid is stunning. Corporate decisions. I like Oceania, but I am not interested in being forced to pay for items I do not want nor use. I believe that Celebrity tried the inclusive delivery and it was quickly abandoned. Have a great time what ever travel you do! Kindest Regards

Yes, all the cruise lines are adjusting time in ports, cancelling ports etc under the heading "weather" "environmental considerations". Oceania took 1 hr off each port for the 2024 and 2025 itineraries using the "environmental" crap. I post on many forums as there are systemic changes the cruise lines are making which are detrimental to the cruiser.

Thanks to you and pinotlover. Well things have changed indeed. My cruise is from Singapore to HK Jan 12/25. Will ride this along and then determine if it is worth the effort before final payment - I am leaning not, especially as I am itinerary driven. Everyone keep well indeed.

Thanks for your post. I do not know if Oceania will stick with Simply More - I hope it is cancelled asap. I have 1 remaining cruise booked Jan 25 SE Asia. There has been a $2,000 pp reduction in the pricing which I took advantage of and every category is available. If bookings were robust, with less than a year to go, this would not have happened. I wonder if Simply More (which is Simply Less) is having a negative impact on bookings. I will not book any more cruises with Oceania until they return to their great al a cart pricing structure.

Love your last paragraph. Oceania for example - cut a minimum of 1 hr off every port for all cruises in 2024 and 2025 under the "environmental" bull S lie. I have reported this thread on the Celebrity and Oceania forums to ensure guests are aware of this NCL scam. I am fed up with cruise lines and their deliberate and malicious attempt to frankly defraud the customer. That is what it is.

It is 100% less. The issue of alcohol is a significant one as many people can not drink it due to health and medication or non interest, like me. It is a forced purchase. Now that there is forced excursions, everyone is booking, and the excursions are now in limited supply - meaning one is compromised in getting an excursion. It is totally disgusting and as a former Oceania customer - I have cancelled them. __________________ We are seeing across the board is the deliberate reduction in the cruise product all dressed up in lies like: * supply chain * environmental concerns * "free" It is up to each consumer how much they will tolerate. I observe much expression of concern by Celebrity cruisers. I note posters on the NCL board raising concern about "changes" to itineraries after final payment, there is the Oceania Simply "Less" (love it) scam. What I know is that I have 1 cruise booked in Jan 25. Beyond that 0, and no intention of doing so. All my vacation $ is now moved to land based and a new Magnificent SUV for North American driving vacations. What ever you choose, hope it works out.

Morning zitsky! It is a new mandatory inclusive price increase to cover alcohol at lunch and dinner (only those times......) and shore excursions. You must pay for these even if you do not use same. This is a major change for Oceania - who used to have an al a cart menu that you could customize your experience. Hence, since I do not do either - I have cancelled Oceania. On the Oceania site it is advertised as FREE - which of course is a bold faced lie. It is not only Celebrity who is significantly changing their product to the detriment of the customer.

100%. Fed up with the dropped ports lies by the cruise lines, last bull cruise Oceania dropped a key port in Greenland. I cruise for the ports. So now moved all my travel $ to land based. I may cruise again for relaxation, but my trust in cruiselines is 0 these days. Oh cruiselines, shut up about the environmental file, that is a con to swindle guests.

100% well said and accurate. I would also say that this sentiment applies to other cruise lines. As a former Celebrity fan, I moved to Oceania. Then they undertook the forced Simply More, so I have cancelled them. I am a dissatisfied consumer and my $ moves to where I am satisfied. Loyalty is 0.

Everyone. I would also engage the Credit Card Dispute option for situations where the product is substantially changed and the provider will not accept cancellation. Do this with this particular cruise. You have nothing to lose and much to gain.

edgee, I support your assessment. There are more of us out there then the "influencers" want to admit. Check out Celebrity, the long time customers are leaving in droves and moving up to premium which is Oceania/ Az and the luxury. Celebrity is hemorrhaging long time customers, but being filled by newbies who will be exploited. I suspect, they will fill our spots on Oceania, because they do not know the history of the product. The food chain of customers and cruise lines is being disrupted significantly. We are moving most of our travel $ to escorted land vacations and driving trips in North America. I have lost my trust in any of the cruise lines.

Well not booking any further Oceania cruises because of Simply More. Will look at other cruise lines and frankly moving more travel $ to land trips and a new SUV to drive all over North America. I am not interested in mandatory payment for booze that my spouse and I do not use and Oceania excursions, not. To each their own, but the Simply More is not acceptable.

I appreciate you posting this situation. Thank you. The product offering was substantially changed - therefore Oceania should have waived any penalties. I share your perspective on Oceania, I too am wary of this cruise line. I have one cruise booked in Jan 25, will see what happens. Have no further cruises booked with Oceania due to their Simply More mandatory payment for booze (which neither of us use) and shore excursions (not much interested, we do our own, or with others). You are the boss of your purchases, no one else. Stick to your approach indeed.

All the negative comments about the menu in Luminae. I have been observing this for years - "I always order off part off the MDR menu"........ I look at the menu and would never pay the prices they want for the Retreat given the food. Have read many reviews of the burger being hard packed meat....... The food offerings seem very limited versus the premium lines like Oceania etc. Why?

Some history. There was a time, when Al Bacio pastries were free. In fact, there were also fancy tea sandwiches in Al Bacio including fabulous shrimp and smoked salmon sandwiches. Even more amazing were the lemon tarts (with real lemon filling and amazing pastry) topped with a square of dark chocolate. The lemon squares were legendary. I was on the Connie in the deep south - sitting with other guests on the deck at the stern. Each of us 4 made a trip to Al Bacio to get the squares = a total of 4 round trips and I think we each ate 6 of them. The best ever. Enjoyed all of the above on 2 cruises in 2015, 2016, 2017. These said wonderful food stuffs were available until 2018 when they were removed. 2018 was a big year for Celebrity, they profoundly reduced the quality of their food stuffs. My last cruise on Celebrity was 2018 and thereafter I cancelled Celebrity and moved to the premium and luxury. I cruised Celebrity since 2001 to 2018 and the deterioration of the brand in 2018 was visible, let alone what I read on these boards in 2023. History provides much evidence and perspective.