mickey89

Agree, Cruise a holic is confused....

As I said the Ultimate Dining package is no longer available, anyone who disagrees just talk to Specialty Dining Reservation Dept. I always purchased the Ultimate dining package from 2013 until it was discontinued from memory was about 2017 when they reconfigured the The Bistro to the now, Sushi on Five. I just bought the 9 night package during the Wave sale for our November 2023 Equinox cruise for US$294pp the same as (Cruise a holic) posted, just 9 reservations (I could use one of the 9 for lunch if I choose).

The original ULTIMATE Dining Package has been discontinued since 2017. With this package you could dine in any specialty restaurant in the evening for the full duration of the cruise, it was never listed with a number of nights. You also could take lunch in any specialty restaurant which was open, which was normally just once or twice during the cruise. We always took lunch in the Bistro-on-Five for free with this package. But when the Bistro on Five changed to Sushi on Five the Ultimate package was withdrawn. It is not possible to buy this package today even if you have the Penthouse suite. Celebrity replaced the UDP with multiple dining occasions like the one mention above. If its a 10 night cruise the maximum package available today is the 9-night package as you can just add the first night at 30% discount to complete the experience.

Are you sure? How do you know? Someone told you, can you believe? Gratuities are steeped in mystery, is it another revenue stream for the cruise line? NO ONE really knows..... its just hearsay !

The Unlimited Dining Package has ended not even limited amount. Your 9 night package will not include Lunch

Look out for their SALE when prices are reduced significantly. Just recently prices were reduced by 30% in the WAVE Sale, now it's just 8% discount.

A word to the wise. You have heard " use it or Lose it".......you don't need to lose it. Go to the Roulette table with your cruise card, ask for chips to the value of your obc. Then bet say $5 for courtesy, walk away straight to the cashier and redeem your chips, you now have cash .......

Are you serious, its economy of words.... It's the same on Equinox, to be explicit, we went to the Cashier desk and with our cruise card got $250 in chips. Yes they were different to the cash chips, they had a red circle just inboard of the edge, they probably call them Promotion chips, who cares.... We then converted them into cash chips by betting on red and black. As I said you need two people otherwise the teller wouldn't allow you to bet simultaneously on red and black. We have done the same on Silhouette, Eclipse and Reflection in the past without any problem. Just don't be obvious and do it progressively over a few nights.

My obc was NON- Refundable. "Cannot use on Red/ Black" ..... well we did, strange hey!

Last cruise aboard Equinox we had $250 in non refundable from Celebrity. Towards the end of the cruise we went to the Roulette table with $250 and just placed bets of equal value on Red and Black (wife did the red, I did Black) and after a while converted the non-cash chips into cash chips. Then back to the cashier desk and received $240 in cash. We lost once 00 came up.

Celebrity just announced sale with big discounts on Bev Packages, Specialty Dining and Excursions

Recently enjoyed a 14 day Caribbean cruise aboard MSC Seaside in their Yacht Club. It was our third YC cruise and overall the cruise was definitely an improvement over the earlier cruises. The food in the YC was the main reason for the better experience, it was excellent. Alas it is extremely unlikely that we will repeat due to the ridiculous increase in cost. We paid £5400 for a YC balcony cabin, now the same cabin on the same ship, same itinerary, same time of the year is now £12600. Wow, that's eye watering...........bye, bye MSC.

WOW, take a look at St Maarten Grand Bay beach this morning.....loads of sargussum, never seen it this bad. https://www.portstmaartenwebcam.com

Just a warning, if you have the All Included package the wifi will be disappointing. You can send whattsapp messages but no photos.

We were on Seaside recently and asked for a lounger for the YC balcony. Definite NO, even after speaking to the YC Manager, although I didn't press the issue. I believe it very much depends on the YC Manager attitude.

We sailed Seaside in the Caribbean just last month and they were giving away free cabanas. We took one, they were like a furnace. The pool attendant suggested throwing towels on top of the roof netting to gain a little shade which was a waste of time with the wind. The shaded area with tables beneath has a canvas cover poorly designed with large gaps between the numerous canvases, often wet and slippery. The best option we found was leave the YC and go into the Aurea section, plenty of shade although no lounge cushion.

G Goto MSC Cruises website, click on MSC Voyager Club and it shows all the discounts available. The best offer is 5%+5%+ €50

We recently returned from a Caribbean cruise in the YC aboard MSC Seaside. We took our Diamond status free meal in Butcher's Cut and the meal was terrible. We also tried the Teppanyaki, again food was just ok although the show was good. I was extremely surprised that the food in the YC restaurant was far superior to our past experiences and definitely much better than the speciality restaurants. With regard to wine, we were allowed to take a bottle of our choice from the YC to the specialty restaurant both times if that's of any help.

The easiest way to get cash from your non-refundable credit is to goto the Roulette table. Give your Cruise Card and ask for say €150 then play €5 on your choice, just for courtesy. Then goto the cashier and cash out, so simple. Your account balance, if it was €150 will now be zero and you will have at least €145 in cash.

We sailed YC in 2020, asked butler for a sunlounger for our veranda and one appeared within the hour.

Assume the 5% + 15% has been discontinued ?

Cruiser21 - you are very astute.

Celebrity or MSC YC ? On Celebrity we always choose a normal Balcony cabin whilst on MSC would only choose the YC as the rest of the ship is too crowded and manic. Celebrity pros - better food quality, superior entertainment, less crowds, best specialty restaurants and better customer service on land and sea. MSC Yacht Club pros - top sail lounge, better choice of wines included, best bed mattress ever, Mini-bar a definite plus, Voyager Club 20% deals ( now discontinued which makes YC too expensive ) The main problem with MSC YC is lack of any shade on the sun deck.

That's correct........ but nothing stopping you doing the test earlier and photographing the Test Stick on the Friday. That's the stupidity of the new rules !

Thanks but the carpet is a give away......Equinox I presume ?