Cruising89143

Sure which is why I prefer to make my own judgements. 😉😉 Again, first world problems.

We had lunch in Luminae back in December on the Solstice. No issues and a very good lunch with great service.

Looking at the new menus, they look just fine. Plenty of options. First world problems.

Celebrity has the exact same policy. All specialty dining and drink packages have an automatic 18% gratuity added at checkout if you pre purchase or it will be added to your check if paid on the ship. Either way it’s not optional. This is totally separate from the standard gratuities.

Thanks for the review. Good to read some positive comments.

For us when looking at Europe we look at the itinerary first and the ship as the secondary to get us from one place to the other. Usually the itineraries are very port intensive so I would look at it that way. We haven’t cruised on Carnival in over 18 years but we may one day stick our toes back on a Carnival ship. Carnival has a big presence out here on the west coast.

Same here. I about drove myself crazy trying to figure out the last time when I had no problems doing this previously. 🙂 Finally figured it out.

First of all, thanks for taking the time to share your trip and IMHO Celebrity really knows how to do suites. 🙂

I agree with the last two posters above me concerning the show times. You will have no issues making the second show.

Thanks for sharing your experience. We were on board the Solstice in early December and found the ship to be in great shape as well which surprised us as some on this board stated the opposite. We board again five weeks from today for a PCC. They were installing new slots on our last cruise and they were not activated until the next sailing so it will be nice to see them in action.

No. We prefer a Voyager class over an Oasis class any day. We love the NV but it can be chilly most of the year when leaving from San Pedro. Once you get down to the MR ports then it will warm. Very warm even in October.

The Skyway bridge has more to do with the ships deployed in Tampa more than anything else.

We were on the Solstice on the 12/03 sailing. An older ship…………………… We did not notice any new crew. They “ALL” went through their daily routines as normal. We did not feel that anyone was going through training. They were all professional, friendly and helpful and provided service with a smile. We did not notice anyone overworked or stressed. We also did not see a decline in service or quality overall. We will be back on X in about five weeks. Same ship. We will look for changes and report back.

We always receive offers left in our room on RCI plus they continue to load new offers weekly on their website, sends emails weekly plus a postcard. I have about eight offers sitting on the website right now. It’s amazing how different the two cruise lines operate.

“This” and please no one ask me what I think about Carnival’s mouthpiece. 🤮🤮🤮🤮

After reading through the comments it is amazing how different RCI and X are in terms of how they operate their casino programs. We receive offers weekly from RCI plus they have a website. We cruised nine cruises last year with RCI. Seven were casino cruises and all in Junior Suites or higher. Once you make Prime which is 2500 points drinks are free in the casino and you do not have to be playing. We have set at the bar and had cocktails. Right now RCI has a much better program. X needs to tap into RCI and I’m surprised that they’re not since they’re all under the same umbrella.

I admit to not having dug into the RCL Investor site since the earnings call other than to see that the new Edge Class #5 is not listed as future new builds like the RCI Icon and Silverseas Nova class ships are but I wonder what the occupancy level was for RCG’s three main core lines? It seems that Celebrity seems to be struggling to fill ships where RCI is not. Not sure about Silverseas as I don’t really pay attention to them. I cruised on three RCI ships in October/early November. All three was sailing above 100% occupancy. On the other hand our Solstice cruise in December was somewhere between 16-1700 guests. A far cry from a full ship. I can’t help but wonder if X is dragging down RCG financially?

One area of the specialty dining that we loved on the Bliss was outside seating area. If the weather is nice it’s a great place to enjoy dinner.

Like everyone else, we bring on meds in case we get sick. The last six cruises, we packed NyQuil, DayQuil, Tylenol and covid test kits. We carry them on with no issues.

We have had Covid twice after avoiding it for over two years. The second time was back in late October/early May. We were in Miami for two cruises on RCI. Not exactly sure where we caught it but due to the timing we felt that we picked it up on the Symphony OTS. The ship was sold out. Over 6000 guests and it’s hard to skip the elevators when you need to travel from deck four casino to the Coastal Kitchen on deck 17. From what I recall, we stopped on just about every floor each time and each time people crammed onto a car. No sense of being careful anywhere on the ship by guests but the guests on this sailing is another story. We are fully vaccinated and boosted. We have decided to go about our business but we do try to take precautions. We keep a mask on us in case we need to put it on quickly like the elevators. Thankfully our Covid sickness was mild. We were on the Solstice in December for eight nights, did not mask up and we came home fine. I did find that after isolating and wearing a mask for so long that our immunity took a hit. Much easier to get sick. But in the end, life goes on and so does cruising and travel.

Haven’t read all of the other responses. We cruised in the Haven on the Bliss in October of 2019. The Bliss is a sister to the Joy. Joy was built for the Asian market but NCL did make some changes prior to entering the U.S market. As you’re aware the Haven is NCL’s ship within a ship concept and IMHO they do it very well. As long as we stayed in the Haven it was great. It was very nice and service was great. Loved the lounge and observation areas in the Haven. The food in the Haven restaurant was very good but the menu does not change. Loved the outdoor Haven restaurant as well. Once outside of the Haven it was very busy. Something I would expect on a mass market line like NCL and MSC who both offer very large ships. You don’t have that issue on Celebrity. But looking at cruise lines like NCL and RCI, NCL does suites much better but I give Celebrity the overall nod for the Retreat.

Not sure about changing from one coast to the other but we did switch from an Alaska cruise to a Pacific Coastal. Both were on the list. Very easy to do.

You’re not the one confused. 😉

Not to us but thanks for your comment.

Glad that you enjoyed it but I long for the former Qsine format. I miss that. We have zero interest in LPC.