NutsAboutGolf

With X, being a premium line does not translate to premium food or entertainment. Carnivals newest ships blow X away with entertainment and also in complimentary food. This taps into your first prediction 100% disagree with you on Virgin Voyages as they really haven't even started to do any cutbacks yet

There's a lot of disingenuity from X. Just a few examples...You can have a steak in the MDR every night, but does it taste good? They sell a pre-owned rolex but you can't have it serviced at a rolex dealer. They make it appear they're selling new handbags but they're pre-owned

100% agree with both of you, great points by both

It seemed the easiest way to do so was when the casino offered you a comped room, you paid $10-$20/night to upgrade to CC or AQ (which someone said is now gone), book a longer itinerary, go solo to get double points and sign up for GoGreen

Turn-down service will inevitably be eliminated for at least inside-balcony (and possibly CC/AQ or it will hang around a little longer) staterooms, just a question of will it continue to be around for months or years? A made to order "Food Hall" will most likely replace the buffet which would help with both reducing food waste and would give pax a casual dining option for dinner. However, if they stay on course with reducing food quality, they'll actually be MORE food waste...lol...Virgin pioneered the food hall and NCL followed, many believe it's inevitable it will be on all cruise lines eventually. I personally would welcome the change Cruise lines seem to want to rely on their low-paid workers vs investing in automation. X's website is a mess, can't even recognize a pax CC status so if you have status and want a CC discount, you have to call in. When you call in, rarely do you get the option for them to call you back. The could greatly reduce labor costs if you could order your meals from your smartphone and they could install kiosks for the few "disconnect" holdouts that remain. They make drink dispensers where you can order a drink, like a cosmo, from your smartphone/kiosk and the dispenser pours the perfect amount. Some lines are dabbling with pour your own beer and wine dispensers. More and more at restaurants (including last week at California Pizza Kitchen) I see robots carrying around food items and some hotels use them for room service. I could go on and on but the first sentence of this paragraph says it all Better itineraries require the government of the ports to cooperate. If a government of a port requires more $$$ and/or wacky rules like all ship bars need to be closed, they're the ones shooting themselves in the foot X's target customers IMO is anyone who book the Retreat. Book a room or call X and are on hold, all see and hear is "The Retreat". The product they offer now is not something most millennials would enjoy as they want different experiences and post their experiences on social media. Seems like X dipped their toe in this with the Eden with all night ongoing shows when pax had forced interactions with the performers but too many people complained and they scrapped it

With a rib-eye there’s more surface area on the faces so one can add more flavor with rubs if they want (some only want salt and pepper, some don’t care as they drown it in A1). I personally always use a rub and put a heavy coat all over, vacuum seal it and leave it in the fridge for a few days before cooking it. With that being said, cruise lines aren’t using top quality beef and cook in batches vs made to order

Prime rib and a ribeye are the same cut, both are from the standing rib roast. Typically with prime rib, you roast the whole standing rib roast then slice it. With a ribeye it’s cut then cooked. I personally prefer a ribeye over prime rib but wouldn’t turn down a prime rib if that were the only steak option

Since they’re network game they’ll be on your room, casino bar and possibly the outdoor screen. Some games like Thursday night games won’t be on in your room but will be on at the casino bar and/or craft social

I have as well on weekends but generally have less of a wait on weekends vs weekdays

There’s basically three ways to get comped cruises through the BCC: 1) Most Common, you receive a comped cruise offer as an “award” based on your previous sailings play 2) If you have enough status you get one free one per year 3) Based on play at an X partner like the MGM 4) BONUS! Not a BCC cruise but you go through URComped which has playing requirements Since the house always wins, it does make sense. Also, unlike other lines, unless you have a lot of play, they do not get any perks. You would imagine a typical gambler wouldn’t want to “disconnect” and would want the internet

Oddly occasionally you get that option but I rarely receive the option. IMO, they should upgrade their website first to allow you to do more things online without the need to call in the first place

FYI…The eclipse doesn’t let people off in Antarctica, need a much smaller ship for that. Honningsvag Norway is a cruise stop and is in the Arctic Circle; not all that difficult to visit by land

With the gratuities, whether or not we like it does ensure everyone pays as I could imagine many do not. I had the “pleasure” of someone charging three lattes to my cabin number (I’m elite+ so they’re free) on the last day and had to go to guest services around 6pm. While in the guest relations line I could over her other pax and guest relations interactions and practice of folks removing the last evening of the sailing was alive and well

They attempted to get rid the chocolate before and after negative feedback they brought it back

Many don’t realize they’re open on weekends and often have shorter wait times

IMO… I would imagine if they would elect to use a focus group they would be more interested in NEW cruisers vs previous passengers Yet I seriously do not believe they use them for the on board the experience, yet it’s very common for the marketing arm to use them for advertising like TV commercials

The GoGreen program still provides turn down service

The other thing is you have those who have never paid for a perk before, like laundry but once they get it for free, use if every sailing. I believe once you reach status if there are any changes they’ll be grand fathered. I fear it’s inevitable that they’ll replace lifetime status with annual status like most other hotel/airlines and MSC use

They sort of have that with Craft Social although the food menu is limited and is a la carte

Thanks for the reminder that if we’re not in the Retreat, we’re simply peasants…lol

Why not give it a try? If nothing else you’d receive much better tasting food, a better selection of food and better availability of food (X’s MDR is open for 90mins during lunch)

Points DO cost them in perks that pax may have otherwise paid for. Yes it’s still active, personally used it two weeks ago and have signed up for all my future sailings including 2024. I would imagine if they terminate the program those already signed up would be grandfathered

On Virgin? I have no idea

Wow, thanks for the info. That’s disappointing about the beef supplier. A big problem with the specialty restaurants is obtaining a reservation earlier than 9pm once on board

Honestly surprised we’re still receiving CC points for gogreen. My WAG or Wild A$$ Guess is the shoreside employee who started the program is no longer with the company and no one else has caught or “fixed the glitch” yet