actuarian

The two companies that deliver scooters to the ship are Scootaround and Special Needs Group. You can find either of them by just searching for the company name in Google. I have used both of them multiple times. Scootaround is easier to contact by telephone if you have a problem but I think Special Needs does a better job of maintaining the scooters and making sure that the scooter they deliver has a battery that can hold a charge all day. They both supply scooters than can fit through cabin doors but, as other posters have pointed out, cannot get around beds that are close to the cabin door.

They could just do what airlines do when there are more passengers in their top tiers than there are available seats for upgrades. They just give the upgrades to the people with the most miles. Occasionally, couples do have to either turn down a single upgrade or get split. Similarly, in the above case, they could just admit the 30 Pinnacles who have the most C&A points.

You and most of the other people who have posted on this thread are right that the cruise line is slowly reducing perks and even some services, to cut costs and increase revenues. When they turn a library into four inside rooms, or build new rooms in another previously public area, or reduce room services from twice a day to once a day, that is what they are doing. However, the case of the drink vouchers is a little different. It wasn't that long ago that the only complementary drinks available to diamond and above C&A members were the happy hour drinks served in the diamond or concierge lounges. As those lounges became increasingly crowded, I for one found it very difficult to use that perk and, when I did use it, I only received one or at most two complementary drinks per day. With the present system, I receive five complementary drinks per day (although half of those are non-alcoholic since I do not drink that much alcohol). This is a very significant improvement and a rare case in which the cruise line actually upped its expenditure. Now they are clawing back a very small part of that increased expenditure. My only complaint is that they are trying portray this change in a deceptive manner. The truth is that their original intent was probably to provide a maximum of 35 complementary drinks per seven-night cruise but they ended up (IMHO accidentally) providing up to 40. This change is simply to correct that accident and I would be much more accepting if they said as much.

This is a rather ingenious way for RCCL to save a bit of money while making it look to non-mathematical types as though a perk is being improved. For the cruise line, what matters is that very few people will still use 8 full sets of vouchers on a 7-night cruise. It reminds me of a story I heard many years ago about an up-and-coming employee in the executive office of American Airlines. That employee proposed changing the recipe for the salads included with first class meals to include only one olive, instead of two. The idea was that nobody was going to decide to switch to another airline just because they were getting one fewer olive but the airline would probably save the cost of well over a million olives per year and that added up to a significant saving.

I am pretty sure that it would require cancellation and rebooking. However, all of the components that make up AI (drink package, internet access, and prepaid tips) can easily be purchased separately. That will cost a little more than AI would have cost but, under the circumstances, it would almost certainly be better than cancelling and rebooking. Another (more expensive) way would be to upgrade the reservation to a higher room category. If you do that with Celebrity (or the travel agent who booked the reservation, if any), you should be able to include AI with the upgrade.

The lobster was not available at LPC on either of my last two cruises. One was on the Apex and the other was on the Summit.

I have been to LPC several times, mostly on M-class ships. IMHO, the food is not nearly as good as it used to be when LPC first started and the menu included bouillabaise and lobster tails. I do not go there any more because the food is no longer any better than the food in Luminae and the menu at Luminae has many more choices. However, many people go to LPC primarily for the show and I think the show is worth seeing once if you have never seen it before.

In E-Class, the single rooms very small but they do have balconies. Or at least they do if you consider the "Infinite Verandas" to be balconies. They are advertised as 142 square foot plus 42 square foot balcony.

Like I said, E-Class is heading "back to the way it was on ships built before 1995". Back then, it was typical for only suites to have balconies. I cruised on the three Royal Caribbean Sovereign class ships many times. On those ships, only rooms classified as Junior Suites or higher had balconies. (Actually, when the first two Sovereign class ships were built, they had no balconies at all, but balconies were added to the suites later.)

An E-Class Sky Suite is 299 sq. feet, while a typical Princess mini-suite is 267 sq. feet, so there is some difference in size. However, the important difference is that sky suites come with all of the perks of The Retreat. Like referring to ocean view cabins with windows that open as "infinite veranda cabins", referring to these cabins as "Sky Suites" is just marketing. MSC does the same thing; they call all cabins in the Yacht Club suites, even though some of them are tiny, as small as 182 sq. feet. On the other hand, Disney does not call anything a suite unless it has two rooms separated by a solid floor-to-ceiling wall. Royal Caribbean refers to the new class of Junior Suites with suite perks (only on the Icon of the Seas) as "Sky Junior Suites" and perhaps Celebrity should either use the same terminology or call them "Retreat Junior Suites".

I would not so much call it a " fatal flaw" as a means of reducing the amount of fuel consumed by the ship. Until around 25 years ago, the vast majority of outside cabins did not have balconies. However, cruise lines discovered that there was a huge demand for balcony cabins so they started building ships with many more of them. This inevitably created more drag on the ships and increased fuel consumption. IV cabins do not produce this drag but having only a small number of IV cabins, as is the case with MSC, does not have a significant effect on fuel consumption. To have a real effect, it is necessary to reduce the number of "real Balconies" back to the way it was on ships built before 1995. That is what Celebrity has done with the E-class trips and it both reduces the cost Celebrity pays for fossil fuel and simultaneously reduces the amount of carbon dioxide that the ships release into the atmosphere. I do not really know how this is affecting sales but there is little doubt that it is good for the planet. Nevertheless, referring to these cabins as balcony cabins may be poor marketing.

I think that those cabins used to be Concierge Class cabins, rather than standard veranda cabins, since they have the extra 21 sq. feet that both C-class and A-class cabins (191 sq. feet total) have but that standard 170 sq. foot veranda class cabins lack. There are also 4 sky suites and 2 Celebrity suites in that area of deck 9.

Many other cruise lines have their most expensive suite cabins below the pool deck. It has always been that way on Royal Caribbean. On the original Disney ships, the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder, the ultra-expensive Walt Disney and Roy Disney suites are below the pool deck. Those cabins book up as soon as they are released for sale so there are plenty of people who are willing to spend large amounts to be in the locations you call "undesirable".

I stand corrected. Until now, I had not noticed that X also has the soda package, since I always purchase an alcoholic drink package when I book a cruise on X. In fact, if I purchased the soda package right now for my February, 2023 Celebrity cruise, it would cost $7.99 per person per day (+ gratuity), $1.18 pppd less than it costs on Royal. Nevertheless, the big difference is that the Elite+ complementary drinks on X are only available for two hours per day and cannot be ordered at a restaurant.

You are right that "cappuccino, latte, espresso, and tea" are complementary all day. The quoted list is pasted from Celebrity's web site. There is no mention of Chocolate. I know that I could pick up a free alcoholic drink at a bar and take it into the restaurant. However, that is not the same as simply ordering it from my server, as I can do on Royal. There is often a wait to be served at most bars at that time of day and, in any case, the option is not available after 7 PM.

I am Diamond+ on Royal Caribbean (less than 200 points to Pinnacle) and Elite+ on Celebrity. I never book an alcoholic drink package on Royal because on Royal I get 5 free drinks a day and I can use them almost anywhere and anytime. That covers all the alcohol that I care to drink and I supplement it with the Classic Soda package, which costs only $8.99 per person per day (plus gratuity) and covers unlimited Coke products. However, the Elite+ drink offering on Celebrity is far more limited; it is only available for two hours a day and, even during those hours, it cannot be used in restaurants. Moreover, Celebrity does not offer anything comparable (and comparably priced) to the Royal Classic Soda package. Therefore, when I cruise Celebrity, I opt for AI.

I have not seen suites offered without the AI package recently. Last time I checked, the cruise-only price was not available for either the Retreat or Aqua Class. It was available for all other room categories. I think that the only way to be in a suite without AI now is to book a lower category room and then upgrade to a suite with move-up.

I do not know whether it makes any difference but, if you are in an M-Class ship, the family veranda cabins are not really under the buffet. They are under the Sunset Bar. To the best of my knowledge, M-Class ships are the only ships that have family veranda rooms under the Lido Deck.

It is not the same thing. On RCCL, only the very top suites on the newest ships (the Star Class Suites) get Genie service and no ship has more that 11 Star Class Suites. Genies will reserve any seat that the Star Class cruisers ask for (such as front row center) and they are reserved in advance for the particular person who requested them. They are not in a block shared with other suite guests, they are not released 10 minutes before showtime like they are on X, and they are available not just in the main theater but also in several other entertainment venues like the ice show and the Aqua Theater. Usually, the Genie escorts the Star Class guest to his or her reserved seat. RCCL does everything possible to spoil the few Star Class guests, who make up only a tiny percentage of the guests on those immense new RCCL ships. It is like flying long haul first class on one of those Lufthansa planes that have only eight seats in first class (but without the caviar). Even true luxury ships rarely match that level of exclusivity (although they offer much better food) and Star Class suites are priced accordingly, sometimes as high as $60K for a one week cruise where the least expensive cabins cost less that $1K.

It sounds like you will be on the November 10th Summit Cruise. If so, that is the same cruise that I will be on. By an extreme coincidence, I also used "move-up" to upgrade from a Concierge Class cabin to a Sky Suite (but accessible in my case). However, I have done this before so I can answer some of the questions: (1) I upgraded to the Premium drink package and I think that is worth it. They are supposed to check which package you are on everywhere but my experience is that the bartenders usually do not ask at The Retreat Lounge or the sundeck. They are often the same people who were there when it was Michael's Club and in those days all drinks at the club were complementary, even for people who had no drink package at all. The servers at Luminae do ask. (2) The Classic package covers all of the Coca Cola products. It does not cover the more expensive non-alcoholic drinks like Red Bull, Evian Water, and specialty coffees. Perhaps more important for adults, it does not cover the large martinis made at the martini bar (although you just pay the difference for those, not the full cost). It also does not cover brand name spirits but, again, you just pay the difference. That matters to those of us who like our vodka to be Grey Goose. (3) The wi-fi on Celebrity is often very slow. For example, the surfing package is usually too slow to play games like "wordle". The streaming package probably makes it a little better but I have never used wi-fi enough during a cruise to justify paying to upgrade it. On my last cruise (on the Apex), I reserved a sky suite from the start so I had the streaming package and it was still painfully slow. (4) Assigned boarding times have never been enforced for Suite guests. (5) My experience is that only people in the top suites (Royal Suites and Penthouse Suites) get special treatment at port stops.

A matter of opinion. No Disney fan would agree with the above statement.

I'm Diamond Plus (180 points short of Pinnacle) on RCCL and Elite Plus on Celebrity (earned on Celebrity, not based on my RCCL status). Therefore, I know both of them well. IMHO, Celebrity has better food and a lot of little luxury features that RCCL lacks, like nightly chocolates on your pillow, cloth towels in public restrooms, towels found on pool lounge chairs without having to check them out, iced water offered when you return to the ship from a port, etc. On the other hand, Celebrity entertainment is not quite up to RCCL entertainment and X lacks some of the RCCL "wow" features like the Ice Rinks, the flow riders, and the aqua theaters. Most of the time, room categories are not easily comparable. For example: RCCL Diamond = Celebrity ???? : Elite, but see below. RCCL Diamond Benefits = Celebrity ???: Elite, but there is nothing really comparable to the RCCL Diamond Club and Elite free drinks are available only at bars and lounges (not at restaurants) and only between 5PM and 7PM. On the other hand, the Elite breakfasts (usually in the Tuscan Grill) are served and are better than the breakfast buffets in the RCCL Diamond Clubs. Still, the loyalty program is one area where RCCL is better. In particular, RCCL Pinnacles have better benefits than Celebrity Zeniths. In fact, my opinion is that no cruise line loyalty program offers any level of benefits that are equal to the benefits of the RCCL Pinnacle Club. A Junior Suite on RCCL = Celebrity ???: No real comparison. The Junior Suite is the same size as a Celebrity Sky Suite but the Sky Suite comes with more perks than any RCCL suite, other than an RCCL Star Class suite. A Grand Suite on RCCL = Celebrity ???: See above. The RCCL GS is similar in size to a Celebrity Suite but the Retreat Lounge is (IMHO) nicer than the RCCL Suite Lounge and (again, IMHO) Luminae is superior to Coastal Kitchen. The Retreat sundecks are also nicer than RCCL suite sundecks. RCCL Suite Benefits = Celebrity ???. Celebrity has nothing that is equivalent to RCCL Star Class. For example, even if you are in a top suite on Celebrity, you will not have a "Genie" who will reserve a front row seat in the theater without an advance reservation, so you can arrive at a show five minutes before it starts and have a better seat than people who reserve the show in advance and arrive 30 minutes early. However, my opinion is that The Retreat perks are superior to any RCCL suite perks that are short of Star Class.

I agree. It will be very easy to spend the $240 (or much more) in shops, specialty restaurants, shore excursions, etc. Meanwhile, you upgraded to a fantastic cabin.

That is not what happened to the OP; they are on a 10-night cruise in a family veranda stateroom. Therefore, the full amount of the gratuities would be $17.50 x 10 or $175 per person. So there is no way to come up with $240 and, in any case, the OP said that they already prepaid their gratuities. Something is just wrong. On the other hand, at least the OP got upgraded to a great cabin. To my knowledge, the only ships that have family veranda cabins under the buffet are M-class ships and the family veranda rooms on those ships have huge balconies that overlook the ship's wake.

This is wrong; you should have been charged the bid amount of $400. Have you tried calling the Captain's Club number (800-760-0654)? In my experience, the people who answer that number are often more helpful than the people who answer the general number.