Iamcruzin

I can't see this happening on Celebrity. People are already paying almost $90 just for the premium drink packages alone.

Nothing scary here. I have sailed on Royal Caribbean and if the loyalty program is important to you then I will agree theirs is better than Celebrity. As far as the on board experience Royal Caribbean does have more Pay for restaurants but that's because the ships are cities and not cruise ships. You can't compare the Icon or Oasis class with the Edge class and be happy with Celebrity. Two different animals. These larger ships also have better entertainment. The smaller ships are more on par with Celebrity. Also Royal Caribbean does have a better drink package as it is all premium and Celebrity keeps diluting the premium offerings. Celebrity is for grown ups who want a certain itinerary that the Royal ships don't have access to due to size and Royal Caribbean is for families where the ship is the destination. Nothing new here.

I'm not doing anything special with the WiFi. We may have send or receive text but that's it. I upgraded to Premium drink package for $8.99 which was still cheaper than if I purchased it at the prices they were offering even with a discount. So basically I paid $60 for premium and the wifi was a bonus. Right now the Premium is $88.99 I have seen it as low as $74.99

Not always true. I figure out the daily charge and decide at booking if the math works for me. It worked out to be $51 a day for the AI. The lowest that it have been for just the drink package was $57. As I was checking for price drops on the cruise the AI price was going up as well as the basic cruise price. I booked it 30 days before final payment. I sail the end of Sept and the price as gone up even more after final payment.

After reading about the casino budget I feel stupid giving my suggestion. If you can lose that much money who cares about breaking even on a drink package.

If you can afford to lose $5k in 4 days God Bless you. With that gambling budget the only way you will stay out of the casino is if you black out from all of the booze. What I find amazing is that you have no problem losing thousands but spending $30 on two drinks blows your mind.

If I calculated correctly it will cost $101 a day for each of you. A better idea would be to add $500 payment to the credit card that you will use for onboard purchases. With all of the other free drinks you get that should be more than enough to cover the specialty bars on a 4 night cruise. At least this way if one person doesn't want to drink as much as the other then they won't feel pressure to do so just to stick it to the man. You may surprise yourself and not spend it all or have money for the second leg.

It depends where you are coming from and going to. It was cheaper for me to get a flight to San Juan than a flight to Fort Lauderdale when I lived in NY. If it's repositioning back to NY than it's only a one way flight. I remember one year paying $250 pp booking 2 interior rooms. First and last time in an interior but we sucked it up because it was a last minute deal with limited inventory. The flights on JetBlue were cheap too $109 each. It would have been more expensive to stay home. Our neighbors jumped on that deal when they heard what we booked.

I'm making progress with enrollment. When I scroll over the link it is now active. However, it takes me to a page with a black background with dots.

Hardcore with a lot of spare time. 12 days is still pushing it for us since my wife still works.

I can't speak to Celebrity as I haven't read anything about it. 5yrs ago Royal Caribbean used paper straws. There were threads of complaints and suggestions that you bring reusable straws. Just what I want to do on vacation, wash straws. It took me 3 straws to get through one frozen coffee and I would ask for 3 when I ordered. So much for saving the bottom line. I guess I'll find out next month if Celebrity made the switch which I think they would have since it's the flavor of the day.

The repositions from Florida or San Juan to the Northeast have been bargains for me in the past. I missed out on a Repo this yr on Princess. Ft Lauderdale to NYC stopping at ABC, St Kitts and San Juan 12 days for under 2,000 in a balcony with the plus package. My wife couldn't get away from work that week Once you add in the flight for those European destinations it's no longer a bargain plus there are a lot of sea days and the itineraries aren't all that great.

7000 passengers is a tall order for that time of the year.

I have found that shoulder season which is the period just after a peak period like spring break and just before the next peak period summer vacation is where they run deals to fill the ship. Likewise September, October and early November before Thanksgiving (hurricane season). After Thanksgiving up to Mid December are also fire sales. Reposition cruises also offer good value.

That's a big gamble.

From what I have read it's not a deal. It's like the game show. One person participates and the rest just watch. The casino is a better investment.

I was referring to the roll calls that I have been in and currently engaged in. They are nothing like they were when I first joined. New social media is more active.

I agree. Now they are dead. Nobody interacts or answers a question. I don't even know why they even joined the roll call in the first place.

Yep as is Saint Martin and Sint Maarten depending if you are on the French side or Dutch side.

On a positive note, If we are at the point where the navigation map is what we are complaining about now, then we must have accepted all of the legitimate complaints about service, food quality and verandas that are just a roll down car window.

Maybe Google Earth.

16 years and 12k posts on Cruise critic with sailings on Princess, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, let me tell you that Royal Caribbean has a cult following in terms of their loyal passengers. They have more rude and entitled cheerleaders than any of the other two lines and they act as if they won the Nobel Prize instead of buying a loyalty status. I don't have a dog in this race as I would have to sail in suites and limit myself to one cruise line for the rest of my cruising days in order to obtain this level. At that point it wouldn't matter as I would be receiving the benefits just from my booking category. I will tell you that the most complaints from all three cruise lines comes from those who have reached the high levels. For years members on Cruise Critic were begging for the cruise lines to create additional levels and all that did was generate more complaints.

I guess it's not easy being a Zenith or Pinnacle.

In 1989 Princess was owned by P&O before loyalty perks were even a thought.

In 2006 I got a credit for a cruise we took in 1991 when P&O still owned Princess. All I did was fax over a photo that we took with the ship photographer.