kywildcatfanone

If they don't give you one, ask the room steward, often they have some stored away for those who ask.

Great. We were on 10 days in the spring and I guess I didn't even notice that it was $5 instead of $10. That is good news for sure. Makes the plus package even worth less if you don't drink. I will have to pay more attention, lol..

Okay, I think I missed something. Elite gets the wifi at $5/day? Is that new or has it always been that way? And you have to purchase it pre cruise if you didn't book the plus package?

Yeah, we just booked out next cruise without Plus. We rarely drink, and only on cruises, and I looked at the pricing and for a 7 day cruise the plus added $350 to the price each or $700 total. Gratuities, soda package and wifi will come to ($203+$140+140) = $483. If you do not drink plus is not worth it.

Longtime Princess cruiser here. Went on my first Celebrity cruise a couple of weeks ago. One of the things they have you was a tote bag, but instead of it being like the Princess ones that look and feel cheap, this one was better material, and zippered, as well as had a smaller zippered bag inside. Very nice. And I get cutbacks at some level, but I'm guessing those tote bags cost them maybe 10 cents a piece in bulk.

If they are filming on live cruises, they need to tell people in advance who might want a refund.

Yes, I wasn't disputing that. I was stating that it was a cash cow for the cruise lines which is why they offer it and why most people take it. It's both a convenience thing, and a "I can drink all I want" thing, but the reality is most people wouldn't drink more than normal, and are spending way more money by having it than they would without and paying separately. It's good overall marketing in the name of convenience. And it must be working well, as all of them do it, and it's now a standard pricing item.

Yep. Celebrity had this, it was $25/day. But yes, if that were a package option for me, it would be what I get all day every day.

It's a win for the cruise line regardless of how much you drink. If you do the math, it's worth it if you drink more than say 3 drinks a day. That's why they have priced it where they have, they get people to pay for it, then many do not drink much, and ultimately they make more money from it. Packages are a cash cow for the cruise lines now.

I will post here my comments. We just returned from our first Celebrity cruise after 25 with Princess. Just wanted to try something new. Celebrity > Princess Customer service from everyone was fantastic. Every employee greeted you daily with enthusiasm. Our room steward was the best we have ever had. Canned and bottled soft drinks and water. No fountains. That was so great. Princess should adopt that and do away with those fountains that only offer like 3 options. We were on the Infinity, and my understand was there were 1500 passengers for the week, so smaller crowd, but the embarkation and disembarkation process was way better than I typically see on Princess. Celebrity lets you order form the DR menu for room service regardless of cabin class. Now if Princess wanted to offer a perk that wouldn't cost them anything, that would be a good one to add. Princess > Celebrity Celebrity Internet was awful and expensive. Celebrity pricing in general was higher for everything including specialty dining which was ridiculously high. But they do typically offer more OBC to sort of even that out. Celebrity has saltwater pools Celebrity venues such as buffet, and burger grill had some limits on hours. The burger place closed at 5:30pm each day. Couldn't get a burger for dinner. I was expecting the food to be better on Celebrity, but I found it to be almost exactly what I'm used to on Princess. Was actually sort of disappointed about it as people on their forum told me it would be noticeable, but it wasn't to me. We are going to take another one, but will do so on a newer ship. I do like that even their newer ships are smaller than Princess.

And one more thing. I love that the soft drinks are in cans, and the water is bottled. I loved that. Wish all cruise lines did that.

Oops, was supposed to be 1500. my bad, lol.

One more I forgot. The Internet. It was embarrassing. I realize they are making bank with the costs they charge you to "upgrade" to the stream internet, but the basic should at least work for loading images from web pages. You could probably some small amount better internet to make it fully usable for those who don't want to pay for the stream, but I have also read that the stream doesn't work well. That should not be the case in 2022, and Celebrity certainly could do better by it's customers.

Rather than post another thread since I would be a terrible reviewer, I figured I would just post in my own previous thread. We are back now from the Infinity October 1-8 cruise. I won't compare to Princess but in one place, but will comment some based upon my previous experience which is with Princess. The ship: The Infinity is very nice overall. I would agree with folks that it needs refurb, but really only found a couple of things that needed immediate addressing. One was the drains around the pool and at the top of the pool stairs area all need to be redone, the rubber or whatever material is it, has shrunk over the years, and they all look to be ill fitting and a trip hazard. The rubber material on the track was the same, had some cracking and tears in a couple of spots. You could tell it had been patched many times, which was fine. Our room was fine, but the wood panels do need to either be replaced or wrapped with something to update the decor. If they made the showers 3 inches wider, they would be wonderful. I was not expecting saltwater pools, didn't like that all that much, but they had showers to use close by. Was told we had about 1500 passengers on this sailing, so 2/3 full. The food: This one surprised me. I had read a lot on here about Celebrity being superior to Princess, but it seemed very much the same to me. In fact, I'm not sure Princess might be a bit better, particularly the buffet area. Options were limited there, and we saw the same desserts across multiple days. There was always plenty to eat all the way around, but I was expecting it to be better than it was. One thing that bothered me was the Mast Grill hours ending at 5:30pm. I would often get a burger sometime in the evenings, but could not on Celebrity. I don't understand that at all. The service: Our room Steward Douglas was fantastic. We got to know him, we spoke often when in the hallways and he was really great. Most of the employees would greet you when you walked by and I really appreciated that. Service was overall great. I did want to mention one other thing. There seems to be some confusion from some of the threads I have read around the Book Now or Book Later options for FCC's. There is no difference between the two from what we were told, other than the Book Now allowed you to book the current promotion, which you can do with Book Later based upon it's expiration date. Any OBC would be be the same for both. I was under the impression from some things I read that you got something additional for Book Now, but that doesn't appear to be the case from what I was told. We do plan to do another on Celebrity, and plan to do one of the newer ships, although it doesn't look like even the newer ships have more pool options than the Infinity, but I have to look closer at deck plans. I'm unsure if the Covid issues and/or lack of staffing is why some of the venues had odd or shorter hours or if that is the norm with Celebrity.

Perks will never again be added, only removed.

Our last cruise at spring break, the ship was late getting back to Port Everglades. We had a 9:30 flight (was originally 10:15) and got chainged). We walked off the ship at 8:20, got to FLL and in line at 8:45. Long like, but Delta employee asked if anyone was on the 9:30 and about 5 of us raised our hands. She checked our bags and we got thru security and to the gate as they were boarding. Whew...

Also, see how many ships in port the day you go to the airport. If not many, wait times will be less

Oh, but if flying internationally, I would be at FLL by 8:30 for sure.

Easily. Our flight is at 11:25, and we are planning to leave the ship between 8:30-9, or basically as late as we can.

Perfect, thank you!

I meant in terms of which packages you could get them? I was under the impression that the classic alcohol package included all drinks under $9, and I would assume non alcoholic frozen drinks are under $9. Can someone clarify? I would want to change it if that isn't true. I was under the impressing that the classic alcohol package included soft drinks (fountain or can), bottled regular water, and non alcoholic frozen drinks.

So, like a frozen strawberry non alcoholic daiquari would not be included in the classic alcohol package? Or a Pina Colada?

What is the difference between non alcoholic frozen drinks and mocktails?

is this a separate phone number?

I thought coke zero, water, etc, and specialty coffees were included in the classic package. I've seen it mentioned in several threads. Is that wrong? Also, mocktails. I guess I'm asking is there something in the premium non alcoholic package not covered in the classic alcohol package? Like the OP, we don't really drink ,but I was under the impression it included everything except the sparkling waters?