terrydtx

With the old AI in a way the grats were built into the price and still I heard people trying to remove them and being told it was not possible.

Go look at the long lines at guest services on the last day of a cruise some are there to fix billing issues but many are there to remove the auto gratuities. It is shameful IMO.

One thing I forgot about Oceania, the prices quoted INCLUDE all taxes, fees and port charges, which makes them even more competitive.

HAL does IMO the best job of any Cruise Line in Alaska. We have been on that ship and she is a very nice ship. It has our favorite specialty restaurant of any cruise line, Tamarind, and IMO the food in MDR is head above X after all the cuts in X MDR. We are doing the California Coastal Cruise in November in one of the newer HAL ships, Koingsdam.

Which ship on HAL? You will like HAL and the Suite comes with Club Orange. We have sailed with both Hal and X but we had gravitated more to X but with all the changes in Sky Suites we are going back to only cruising with HAL and Oceania.

Today in the mail we got our 2024-25 Oceania Grand Voyages catalog and found some interesting cruises at remarkable costs per night. One we are going to look at is the 23 day Amsterdam to London June 2024 cruise on the Marina. We can book a Penthouse Suite from $600pp per night or a Veranda from $452pp per night. This why so many Celebrity customers are jumping ship after all the recent changes to the product. We never book the air with Oceania as it is mostly a rip off but the non-air prices include the beer and wine beverage package, free Wi-Fi, all specialty restaurants and a $1600 shore excursion credit. At these prices similar on other cruises, we will no longer be booking with Celebrity with their continued diminishing amenities and higher costs.

Today in the mail we got our 2024-25 Oceania Grand Voyages catalog and found some interesting cruises at remarkable costs per night. One we are going to look at is the 23 day Amsterdam to London June 2024 cruise on the Marina. We can book a Penthouse Suite from $600pp per night or a Veranda from $452pp per night. This why so many Celebrity customers are jumping ship after all the recent changes to the product. We never book the air with Oceania as it is mostly a rip off but the non air prices includes the beer and wine beverage package, free Wi-Fi, all specialty restaurants and a $500pp shore excursion CREDIT.

We all know some CC members who are very adamant and volcal about not tipping and brag about haveing the daily gratuity charges taken off their accounts at the end of their cruise. With the old AI my understanding was you couldn't do this. I can see more doing it now and the hardworking crew getting less compensation. This is just another shameless cash grab by Celebrity.

Who is going to be the last rat to jump ship?

Unfortunately, I have to agree with you.

For many it makes the decision to jump ship and cruise elsewhere much easier.

Being from South Texas I will really miss the Huevos Rancheros as it is as close to Tex Mex as I can get on a cruise ship. The truffle omelets were also a very unique breakfast taste.

Things not on the new menu Sausages of any kind including delicious chicken sausage Salmon and Crab cake eggs benedict Huevos Rancheros (my real favorite) Plain or Belgium waffles Hot Oatmeal Truffle omelets.

Apparently, Aqua Class will now be able to book the cruise only fare, but the Retreat is still only available with the AI less the previously included gratuities and OBC.

No Gratuities and no OBC Celebrity is no longer anything more than RCCL. This discussion is now blowing up all over the other social media site. This is way more than the $2 cookiegate.

It clearly states that the new AI will only be for new bookings made after Oct 4th, so any of us already booked will still have the original AI with included tips.

I am planning on it, I hope it will be a positive experience.

That is about the size of Cornish Game hens we buy locally. Thanks, so a Poussin is the veal of the chicken world.

I just read that thread and here is the link to the new AI for all cabin classes starting on cruises booked after Oct 4th, 2023. For those like us the change will not affect us for our upcoming already booked cruises. If you are in the Retreat a 10 day cruise will now cost an additional $460 for the gratuities. https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/CEL_08_22_23_All_Included_One_Pager.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1EmoLRFxu24KZfCzGHgbql8pMQBZIMHCaVYWznPTtv5rxUiyhxZWi6PUU

After reading this you are correct the daily gratuities will no longer be included even for the Retreat. This seems to be outrageous and just another cut or addon cost. At $23pp per person for a suite that adds $552 to the cost of a 12 day cruise. This could be the final straw for many here who are already upset with Celebrity. This is much bigger than cookiegate, at least they are not making it applicable to those like us who already have cruises booked.

Thanks for the clarification, what is a Poussin?

Hopefully it will be cold water lobster meat.

I was told that same thing by the Luminae manager on the Reflection after I complained about the chicken being over cooked and dry. I wonder if the new Duck leg will be processed and shipped the same way? We board the Apex in two weeks and after seeing the new Luminae menus I am looking forward to trying some of the new entrees. The poached cold water lobster really sounds like an upgrade the old warm water one. Even Eden now shows their lobster as being a cold water one. Not impressed with the new Breakfast menu as a lot of the things we liked are missing, but hope we can still ask for them.

That adds up to a lot of nickel and dimes to be saved. The Ascent sails in December I believe.

We booked our BC flights for next month back in November, today when I looked our same flights are over $7K per person. We fly to Sydney in January and our PE seats are $4510 pp, BC was over $12kpp and more than our 2 cruises will cost so we had to pass.