Pilot70D

If you look at the suite prices for any Europe 2015 sailing on a Solstice class ship you will see that with taxes and gratuities, they run about $1000 per night ( vs about $600 in 2014 ). ). That's without alcohol .

Seabourn is about the same...$1000 per night, with alcohol, and cheaper internet and no specialty restaurant up charges .....

Having just completed a Reflection/Quest B2B in May in a suite, IMO, there is currently no comparison. The new suite restaurant may alter that dynamic, but only somewhat.

Unless there's a Tuesday special, I wouldn't pay $1000 per night for the Celebrity product given the alternatives at that price point.

We agree completely with the points you made in this post. We actually hit the crossover point two years ago. We had made our reservation while aboard the Connie for our next cruise and we booked a specific SkySuite, paid the deposit, got the receipt all at the desk of the future cruise person. Four months later we get an "Oh Sugar" email. Seems that there was a bad screw up on Celebrity's part and our suite was double booked and furthermore the other party booked it one day earlier so they get it.

I was really irked with =X= at that point. Making the mistake was bad enough but taking four months to discover it was more than I was willing to tolerate. We then put a deposit on a Regent cruise sailing at about the same time as the Celebrity cruise. By the time you add gratuities at $30 per day plus a drink package for each of us plus five or six dinners in the upscale restaurants it was actually less expensive by some $300-$400 to sail with Regent. If this was the Celebrity of ten years ago then the Celebrity product was better. With all of the cutbacks though Regent proved to be a much better experience.

Bear in mind that like you said this was for an S1 suite. Now if we wind the clock forward to the present you hit the nail on the head. The price increases for 2015 often makes Celebrity more expensive than the up scale lines are plus the up scale lines deliver a superior product. Like you we will continue to look for that Tuesday special but for the most part we are looking to other sources for our future cruises.

Everyone enjoy that next cruise no matter when it is, where it goes or what cruise line your on.

:):D:)

Right now I would say that Celebrity is more like the Ford Taurus. It's not entry level or bargain basement but it's also far from upscale, luxury, etc, etc.

Now before all you =X= cheerleaders get your knickers bunched up, we are dedicated Celebrity cruisers. Back when we started cruising with Celebrity it was an upscale line, far better in our opinion than HAL or Princess each of whom we had cruised with three times before moving to Celebrity. Now, we think that Celebrity has slipped downward and is now just another mass market cruise line. We still like the product offered by Celebrity well enough to cruise with them but it's not as good product as it was ten years ago.

There are true luxury or up scale line out there, Crystal, Seabourne and so forth. Now before everyone starts hollering apples to oranges it really isn't in some circumstances. We generally book Sky Suites on Celebrity. We are booked on the combined Christmas and New Year's cruise on the Eclipse. We were on her for the last New Year's cruise. We liked that cruise, that cabin enough that we booked the same cabin this year. HOWEVER, for the prices Celebrity is now charging one can sail any of the upscale lines for fewer bucks. The current rate for an S1 for two people is a little over $21,000.

Admittedly we buy extras - premium alcoholic beverage package and the ultimate dining package. Still even without these extras we could cruise one of the up scale lines for less. Still we like Celebrity enough that we keep coming back but realistically it isn't as good a product as when we first began with Celebrity.

Everyone enjoy that next cruise and have a great day.:D:):D

ummmm where do you think all those families came from? [emoji8]

There is an old saying which came from the old days of the wooden ships of war. How that expression came into being is interesting.

Son of a gun, everyone have a great day and enjoy that next cruise.

:):D:)

Good afternoon. Let me answer your concerns in a different way.

First, Celebrity afloat is nothing like Celebrity ashore. Celebrity afloat has always been nothing short of amazingly good over the entire eight or nine years we have cruised with =X=. Celebrity afloat seems to have a greater capability to solve whatever problem or speed bump that pops up. With this in mind I wouldn't have a lot of anxiety about your upcoming cruise.

Now let's separate Celebrity ashore from Celebrity's website. There is no hope for the Celebrity website. No one has been able to get the Celebrity website to work very reliably nor for very long over the last four years (and probably longer). You can back to a thread on which I posted that was begun back in 2010. It was a lengthy thread with many posters complaining bitterly about the operation of Celebrity's website. The Celebrity ashore personnel do a pretty good job the overwhelming majority of the time. The Celebrity ashore personnel apparently have to suffer with the same erratic operation and the same amount of misinformation produced by that very same website.

So again I would have little anxiety based on the performance of the Celebrity land based reps either. Furthermore there is more good news on your horizon. After your first Celebrity cruise you will be eligible to join the Captains Club. Over the years whenever I encountered a problem that really needed to be resolved I have relied on the Captains Club personnel to get the job done. I am not a Celebrity insider so I don't know exactly how Celebrity has their personnel organized. I can tell you that from my personal experience and from what I have read here over and over again, the Captains Club personnel seem to have additional capabilities to get problems solved.

So once again I would have no worries about your upcoming cruise. I would not rely on emails or the Celebrity website though. I would ALWAYS call and talk with a real person. Many people here will also tell you that problem resolution is one of the prime reason to go through a TA. The TA is the one who deals directly with Celebrity.

The bottom line - go enjoy that upcoming Celebrity cruise.

:):):)

We sympathize with you and have at times shared your frustration. Until recently we have always used a TA, in fact the same TA over an almost ten year period but then something happened that has caused us to rethink our usage of a TA.

Our TA is but one of many franchisees in a franchise network. Our TA simply vanished for over three weeks and for whatever reason had no one filling in. It was at this time that repeated phone calls went unanswered and email messages unanswered.

We wanted to book a TA cruise and have our TA handle the booking but we could not get a hold of the TA no matter how we tried. Then came the real shock. On our most recent cruise I had purchased two Passages certificates. I wanted to use one of those to book the TA. We couldn't get a response from our TA so I contacted Celebrity thinking I could use one of those certificates. Wrong. If one purchases a Passages certificate while on a cruise where a TA is responsible for the booking then the TA also owns those Passages certificates.

Now I was really mad. We couldn't get a hold of our TA and Celebrity was telling me that I didn't even have control of the Passages certificates I bought. They were down to the last cabin of its type that we wanted so something had to be done. I escalated the control of the Passages certificates up the Celebrity management chain and finally got the certificates transferred back to my control. I then booked the TA cruise with one of them but without the escalation this would not have happened.

OK, all of the foregoing happened via the Captain's Club. My suggestion is to contact them and see if they can help. Be polite but also be insistent and see if they can at least agree to let your TA process your transaction when the TA opens again on Monday.

Good luck.

:):)

We have done the Chef's Table four times on Celebrity cruises - twice on the Connie, once on the Century and most recently on the New Year's cruise aboard the Eclipse.

The first three were pinnacle experiences and worth the $200+ cost and yes, if you already have the cookbook you do get about a $50 discount if you turn down the book. The Chef's Table while on the Eclipse was a bust and in IMHO a rip off.

On the Century and the Connie the Chef's Table was held in the galley and was hosted by one of ship's senior officers. On the Eclipse it was held in the wine cellar room of Murano's was hosted by no one. The executive chef put in a brief appearance then said he had to attend to some things but that he would return. He didn't. The maître 'D started us off and said that he would be taking care of our Chef's Table. He too disappeared and never returned. During the meal the hubby of one of the couples fell ill and left. No one noticed and they continued to bring out the various courses even though the wife told them he would no longer be participating. We often had to wait thirty minutes or longer after finishing one course before the next course appeared. Wine glasses and water glasses remained empty through multiple courses and seldom did anyone from the ship come by where we were.

In fairness we have to keep in mind that this was a New Year's cruise and the ship was packed. This also meant that all resources like Murano's were at or near capacity virtually every night. Still at over $200 per couple there was no excuse for the poor service that we experienced.

OK, the good points. The company was a lot of fun and we sort of partied on left to our own devices. The food was really good but not appreciably better than that available in Murano's. There was nothing served at our Chef's Table that wasn't a regular menu item in Murano's. This was in stark contrast to what we experienced on the Century and the Connie where the chef really strutted his stuff. The wines served were really good wines which we really enjoyed.

Will we do another Chef's Table? Well, maybe but not without asking how, when and where the Chef's Table will be conducted. If it's like the first three we attended we would do it again in a heartbeat.

My goal in writing this post is to make sure that people know what they're getting. Don't blindly trust that it will be a pinnacle dinner just because of its price.

Everyone have a great day out there and enjoy that next cruise.

:cool::):cool:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA.

Semper Fi everyone!!!!!!

May you have a safe holiday wherever you are.

:):):)

We are booked on the combined 2014 Christmas and New Year's cruise on the Eclipse. I made our reservation last year during the Give Thanks sale. At that time an S1 was going for a little under $8,000 for TWO people. The price today for an S2 is $9,499 PER PERSON.

I have been using another web site out there to track price changes & cabin availability for all veranda cabins on this cruise. Almost all of these cabins with balconies have more than doubled in price as time has gone by. Regular veranda cabins are now going for more than our S1 sold for last Thanksgiving. As all of these prices have escalated the demand for these cabins has not gone down at all. Rarely does a released cabin stay available for more than twenty four hours.

The web site I subscribe to automatically sends me an email message anytime a cabin becomes available, when a cabin type is no longer available and when a cabin type changes price either up or down. I think that =X= simply did market demand pricing for this unusual two holiday cruise as cabins opened up. This didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was how readily these newly released cabins sold despite astronomically high prices.

Given the high demand I doubt if we are going to see any substantial savings on balcony cabins from Celebrity. There may be some travel agencies out there that reserved a block of rooms that will sell them for some price lower than Celebrity direct.

Regardless of the pricing everyone out there enjoy that next cruise.

:):):)

As the previous poster wrote not all airlines participate in the program. Be sure to check so that you have the latest list of the airlines that do participate. Also bear in mind that their are time restrictions imposed as well in that your flight cannot depart before a certain time.

Still the program is a great convenience. We used the luggage valet on our last two cruises both of which sailed from Port Everglades in Ft. Liquordale. We paid the small fee for the luggage valet program, received the special baggage tags which we attached to our bags. Once the bags disappeared from the corridor on the ship we never saw them again until we reached Hotlanta.

So go forth and enjoy that next cruise and let luggage valet make the return to landside reality a little less painful,

:D:):D

Irrational Things About Celebrity - only the Celebrity website.

There is nothing rational nor even working very well for very long about the Celebrity website. Celebrity's website has probably created more Princess customers than management can ever imagine.

:mad::p:mad:

We were on the Eclipse for the most recent New Year's cruise and purchased the Ultimate Dining Package The charge was the same as stated in an earlier post. We thought it was a great buy and never did make it to the MDR on that voyage.

You do want to buy it immediately after boarding though because indeed the number of packages is limited and it varies form cruise to cruise. We boarded quite early and immediately went to the table selling upscale dining reservations where we purchased the package. A couple which we knew boarded an hour later and intended to buy the Ultimate Dining Package only to find out that it was no longer available.

Moral of the story - act quickly.

;):D;)

We were on the Eclipse for this just passed New Year's cruise. There were a number of families including several kids of all ages aboard. No one under 21 was allowed in the casino or at the casino bar. Several times kids wanted to watch TV there wile their parents donated to the casino. They were always politely escorted out with a very courteous explanation.

We did see some older kids seated in the areas immediately surrounding other bars throughout the ship but never at the bar itself. This included the Mast Bar all the way aft up on one of the upper decks. Kids could sit at the tables around that bar but were not permitted to sit at the bar themselves. I also overheard the bartenders there tell under aged patrons on three or four occasions that they would have to be seated at one of the tables, that they the bartenders could not serve them at the bar itself even for soft drinks.

I did see young people get served at Café Al Bacio with no problem but that is more of a coffee house than it is a bar.

Hope this information is helpful

;):D;)

The added perks like 123GO, etc. cost money. When there were no included perks, prices were lower. I would like to go back to no perks included. Basic cruise at a basic price. You pick and pay for the added features. It would increase bookings. Most people look at the bottom price. They do not think about the added costs that they may buy on the cruise.

There is no such thing as a free lunch in today's world or in this case neither is there a free drink. We are booked on the combined Christmas and New Year's cruise on the Eclipse. Prices for this particular cruise have risen astronomically to insane levels (see several of my posts tracking current cabin prices on the roll call for this cruise). I realize that this cruise is unusual and that demand remains sky high, much more so than for a normal two week cruise. When I booked our cabin during the Give Thanks special last year our S1 cost a little under $8,000 for the both of us. That same cabin, if one were available, is selling currently for over $19,500 for two people.

We do have two more =X= cruises booked for 2015. In some instances the price increases for 2015 are breath taking. All of these 'free' perks and beverage packages have to paid for in some fashion. All of the 1-2-3 Go, all of the 'free' beverage packages have a price to be paid even if there is no explicit charge for them. Some of the moves =X= has made have proven to be wildly unpopular with the customer base.

In any food service operation, be it afloat or ashore, alcohol sales is usually the highest margin product offered and often generates the largest amount of profit dollars as well. Celebrity is no different in this respect. =X= went along happily for years with passengers paying for their drinks - high octane, low octane or no octane. Then along comes the era of the beverage packages, not just a soda card but full beverage packages. OK, management realized that a major source of profit bucks had been reduced therefore they took steps to limit and or cap the cost of providing these beverage packages.

They approached this from a supply side point of view as well as a price point issue. From the supply side of this issue they couldn't get the booze much cheaper than they were already getting it but they could and did cut back on the number of bar staff personnel. This had two desirable effects looking at it from management's point of view. (1) It reduced their overall manpower costs and (2) it forced somewhat of a slow down in how frequently many people could get drinks or refills at the various bars. Relatively speaking the number of passengers desiring a drink or a refill remained the same while the number of bartenders decreased. The result is fewer drinks being provided over a given time period. I know, I know - the Celebrity cheerleaders will now chime in and say that they never had a problem getting a drink at any time. However, there are several postings to this effect in several threads. We noticed cutbacks in the numbers for bar staff personnel during our recent cruise on the Eclipse. We just didn't think much about those cutbacks at the time.

Celebrity also attacked the price point issues. They increased the price for virtually all hard liquor drinks as well as for wine and beer. The impact on the standard alcoholic beverage package was much greater than on the premium alcoholic beverage package. This in turn caused such a furor that =X= has now adjusted what is and is not included in these packages. Adjustments have now been made to placate the masses but Celebrity can still make adjustments or fine tune them as management sees fit.

=X= has raised the price for every single bottle of wine by some 21% and I suspect that the price increase was made primarily to cover the costs associated with the beverage packages. =X= also has increased the initial pricing on many 2015 cruises compared to the same cruise pricing for 2014 cruises. Some of the price increases are the natural result of the increased cost in general of doing business. OTOH, I think that in part the price increases are going to cover the cost of the 'free' beverage packages.

Please don't misunderstand - Celebrity is still our favorite cruise line. We enjoyed our last cruise on the Eclipse enough so that we booked the same ship, same cabin for Christmas & New Year's this year. We simply hope that the cost of covering all of these 'freebies' doesn't drive the price of cruising on Celebrity up to a point that many find unacceptable.

Everyone have a great day and enjoy that next cruise.

;):);)

What's that spell? What's that spell?

S1 S1 S1

We think that the corner S1's are the best aft cabins on the 'S' class ships period. We have experienced every type of aft facing cabins on the 'M' class ships (except the penthouse suites) and you're right. Nothing can compare size wise to those cabins on the 'M'' class ships.

The S1's offer the most bang for the buck IMHO on the 'S' class. They have wrap around balconies. They have a huge circular window in the cabin side wall. I'd call it a port hole but it's actually big enough to sit in. They have a much bigger and nicer bathroom plus the cabin itself is much larger and the layout is better. They also have a lot more storage and closet space than do the other aft facing cabins. There is one more OOO LA LA factor that only these cabins have. They have a floor to ceiling pipe or pipes suitable for pole dancing in them for those with adult athletic inclinations. I myself being a clean living Christian young man have only heard tell about such activities mind you.;)

So no matter which aft cabin you end up in, enjoy that nest cruise to the maximum.

:):):)

Do you recall if the single deck games paid 3 to 2 or 6 to 5 on blackjack?

Single deck pays 6 to 5 on a natural and restricts doubling after splitting pairs.

They did have the table rules clearly displayed when I played the single deck table.

Toying heavily with Celebrity's newest promotion. Would you give up AQ for a suite guarantee for essentially the same price??

In a heartbeat - I would give up the AQ and go for the suite guarantee in a heartbeat.

First, you will have a bigger cabin and probably with a bigger balcony as well. As the OP said before you will have a butler and all of the suite amenities. Back when the AQ class of cabins was first implemented the food in Blu was much better IMHO than that in the MDR. Over the years that has changed. On our last cruise, the New Year's cruise on the Eclipse, we found the food in Blu to be pedestrian at best and certainly no better than that which was available in the MDR. Admittedly Blu is a quieter environment and the service is better but not enough that I would stay in an AQ cabin if I could get a suite at the same price.

We have done the suite guarantee a couple of times and ended up in a nice suite at a bargain price. However, suite guarantees can come and go also in a heartbeat. A couple of years ago we booked an AQ cabin on a Panama Canal cruise because all the suites were taken or on hold. Later a suite guarantee popped up and we took advantage of it immediately. This was a good thing to do because four hours later the suite guarantee had vanished. SO the bottom line is that I would make my decision quickly and go for the suite guarantee if that is your wish.

This is just my $0.02 worth of advice so enjoy your cruise regardless of which cabin type you ultimately choose.

:):):)

We seem to be in the minority on these boards as we are not great fans of Blu. We did not have an AQ or suite on the last cruise ( NYE cruise Dec 2013) and enjoyed the dining room food very much. I will admit that the service is much better in Blu, and added to the fact that we had a few bad service experiences in the dining room.

 

Food wise, we thought the MDR selection was more varied and there was nothing we ordered that we found to be any lesser quality or taste than Blu.

 

For our next cruise, the difference between our veranda cabin and an AQ is $1000. That is a lot of $$ for dinner in Blu and the other limited QA amenities, even if it is for 14 nights. (especially as I am not in need of extra points.

 

For those devotees, I am happy that Celebrity offers the option for AQ/Suite and Blu.

enjoy

M

We agree with you. We were on the Eclipse for the most recent New Year's cruise. We were in suite and we did go to Blu. The service was good. It was quieter but the food on that occasion was pedestrian at best.

We think that a better alternative would be to book the veranda cabin and then eat in the specialty restaurants when you want. I do think that the food in the MDR is by and large as good if not better than that in Blu. However, we opted to buy the ultimate dining package on this last cruise. Thought that it was a great bargain and allowed us to eat the various upcharge restaurants. Also like you we are happy to see =X= to have Blu for AQ passengers who really enjoy this venue.

Btw, some don't realize that there are trained service monkeys as well as dogs. While I have the same admiration of those animals, celebrity only allows service dogs. Not complaining..just clarifying celebrity policy as I understand it.

I think they are often referred to as husbands!!!!

:D:D:D

Sorry, the devil made me say that!!!

:)

Be careful how you joke! Sometimes, they've tried to change sexual orientation! We booked a cruise with friends, but with different travel agents. When we boarded, they had my husband with our friend Joel, and me with his wife Marjorie! Beds together as requested though. I think Joel was the most upset about this.:D

Andrew

Y'all inadvertently ended up on one the =X= "Swingers" themed cruise. This was an undocumented marketing campaign during which Celebrity was attempting to lure customers away from Carnival and HAL :rolleyes:

This campaign, while not long lived, did make for some unusual cabin mates arrangements!!!!

:D;):D

You could suggest to Mr. Bayley, that your onboard account be charged to "Kathleen!"

 

Hank

What a great suggestion!!! DO you suppose that I could get that final onboard bill sent to some other cabin?????

YIPEEEEEE!! Spending spree here I come.

:D:):D

Think about the romance of the sea and what a couples can do together!!!!!!

This is after all a family oriented discussion board therefore I cannot go into any detail......

:D:D:D

I think they are taking the Princess new ad campaign "Come Back New" to the next level.

Or more likely Celebrity wants to demonstrate that they are on the cutting edge of technology.

:eek:

I don't even like to think along those lines. OUCH!!!!!

:rolleyes::D:rolleyes:

We're up for the challenge. If you can drop us a message with your Captains Club number and the correct information to concerns (at) celebrity (dot) com, we'll try to correct the mistake.

If I do this does it mean that I have to give back the sex change operation??????

:D:rolleyes::D

I am very flattered!! I just got a personal email from Michael Bayley.

The email subject is "A special offer just for you from our president, Michael Bayley. The email begins like this:

Gee, the problem here is that I am not KATHLEEN. Heck, I'm not even female. Still I am flattered but will respectfully decline the sex change operation.

Y'all have a fine day out there.

:D:D:D

It was really tough deciding but here is our rank order for the =X= ships on which we have sailed:

In short we liked 'em all and would sail on any of them again in a heartbeat!!!!

;):D;)