mac66

Since the OP is sailing this month, we would be interested in knowing what happened. FYI-the xrays of checked luggage are looking primarily for weapons and banned electrical appliances not small gas cylinders so I would guess they wouldn't even get noticed.

Like gemerick I was an experienced snorkeler and liked to free dive but could only spend a few minutes under water. I had seen divers while snorkeling and started looking into getting down there. On a cruise to Grand Cayman I walked down to Eden Rock, a short walk from the pier, and did a discovery dive. First time down I thought to myself..."what have you been waiting for?". I was 65 at the time. Went home and did the pool portion of the training in late 2018 and then on another cruise did the open water part in early 2019. Did a couple more cruises that year and dived 5 more times, the last one in December '19. Was scheduled to cruise/dive in 2020 but then Covid hit. Ended up not diving again until a cruise in Dec 2021. Started cruising again in 2022. I now have just over 20 dives in and while I really like it, it has not become a lifestyle for me. I have no desire to buy all the equipment (I did buy a full length wet suit because I tend to get cold) and dive on my own or go beyond OW certification. I'm strictly a warm water cruise diver. Did an 8 night ABC cruise in Dec and dived on Aruba, Bonaire and Curcao. Going on a 7 night western Caribbean cruise in early Feb and diving in Cozumel, Costa Maya and Roatan. BTW, I took my 30 something year old kids on a discovery dive in Roatan when we were there in Dec 2021 and I talked my 2 60 something y/o younger brothers to do a discovery dive in Roatan in Feb. I doubt any of them will take up diving but it's an experience they will always remember.

The CO2 build up in a full face mask is largely a myth but I no longer argue the point. The Tribord Easy Breath is the best full face mask from a leak, fit standpoint.

We did three make up/carryover cruises from the covid years on Celebrity last year. A 7 nighter and two 12 nighters. Frankly, the food and service wasn't very good on any of them. To be fair however, a couple of those cruises were affected by outbreaks of covid (not us). I think supply issues, personnel issues, inflation all affect the outcome. Each ship, time of year, departure point, crew is different. We then booked a cheap late Nov/early Dec 7 night cruise on RCI Explorer. The food and service were very good. No issues... Had a great time. Based on that we booked another RCI 7 night cruise in early Feb. If the food/service are good on that one we are back to RCI for the foreseeable future. At some point however increased costs and lower service/food quality will have to be taken into consideration to determine if we will continue to cruise.

Or you can bring your own bottled water as well. We usually take a water bottle and fill as needed as the on board water is pretty good. We also take an insulated mug for use to carry around coffee/tea or cold drinks i.e iced tea, lemonade, juice etc.

I was on the Summit two times last year, a 7 night charter cruise in Feb and a 12 night transatlantic in August. Frankly the food and service were bad on both cruises. If they hadn't been carryovers /re booked from the 2020 & 2021 I wouldn't have chosen the Summit the second time. We also did a rebooked cruise on the Equinox last year as well, food and service were bad as well. Three strikes and you're out. We are done with X for the foreseeable future. Having said that all cruises are different based on the ship, time of year, itinerary, departure point, crew, etc, etc. so YMMV.

Actually it's really no problem if everyone in your party brings some. They don't really connect the passengers to one another.

small bag

We were fans of X and did 3 X cruises in 2022 which were makeups from the covid years. One was 7 nighter, two were 12 nights. Service and food on all three were noticeable worse than in the pre covid years i.e, 2019. In addition had we not booked those cruises in 2019 we probably would not been able to go due to the price increase. So, food, service and price are factors. We did book a cheap 8 night RCI cruise for in late Nov early Dec '22 and the food and service was much better than X. Looking at 2023 X prices are very high. We've already booked at least one RCI cruise this year. I don't see us going back to X any time soon.

To answer the original question I don't think X has lowered food quality to push people toward specialty restaurants. I think the quality has gone down however and will continue to go down due to Inflation, supply chain issues, recession, whatever. Note>We were on the RCI Explorer in early Dec '22 and the food and service was ,much better than the 3 X cruises we took in 2022 and pretty much par with 2019 BC (Before Covid).

Excellent review. I'm curious that at 27 you chose Celebrity instead of something like Royal Caribbean? We tend to like X better but our 30 something year old kids like RC, particularly the Oasis class ships.

FYI, The last three X cruises we did this year we were surprised that we could bring back bottles of booze from our shore excursions to our rooms. We assumed they would be held until departure but they were allowed through. No attempt was made to conceal them or sneak them through. Two cruises we had drink packages, the other we didn't so that didn't seem to be an issue. Don't know if X changed their policy, we didn't ask. BTW, the booze we bought was stuff we can't get back home which is why we bought it, not to drink it. Though we did open one bottle to taste since we'd never had it before,

Some might call that virtue signaling. i.e, I'm going to ask a question I already know the answer to say "look at me I don't drink the swill you guys drink, and not only that, I'm going to squeeze my own orange juice so I don't have to wait for it to be served."..or maybe not.

DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL

I've never dived in the Pacific but given the chance to dive on a cruise why wouldn't you regardless of where it is?

I don't know about you guys but I bought shares last summer when they were pretty much at their lowest (July '22) just to get OBC. So for the price of one cruise I get an OBC rebate for every future cruise I take. I don't cruise to get the OBC but since I cruise anyway I may as well take it as a dividend. Although the stock price is up $18/share (as of today) since I bought it. I also bought Carnival shares at the same time @ $7/share. Probably won't cruise on Carnival but HAL and Princess do the OBC thing as well and we might sail those in the future. And who knows, if Carnival doesn't go bankrupt their shares might be worth something someday.

But are you going to spend that much on drinks, every day for a week? Our last cruise we didn't use all our diamond vouchers some days nor did we even open the two bottles of wine we brought.

Seriously? You can't go a few days without your own fresh squeezed orange juice?

I think I paid $40 on sale for my Coco Cay dive. It was pretty murky and rough the day I dived. Not a very good dive. I went back to Coco Cay about 9 months later. there was no sale and based on the previous dive I didn't go. I did talk to some guys that did and they said visibility was good and they saw rays, sharks, squid, eels, etc. They thought it was a good dive. If/when I ever go back and can get it on sale again I would probably try it again. I didn't like the jet ski ride. It took forever to get everyone out and back.

Another update: the family is booked at Mr. Sancho's. Blue Reef Divers contacted me and said they could probably get me in on a dive or 2 as a single in that they usually have more than one diver each day. So I booked a dive with them. So if someone else shows up that day, we'll go, if not, we won't.

Royal owns Coco Cay, they have their own dive shop on the island and you should be able to book your dive (1 tank only) through the ship's excursion planner.

CoCo Cay is owned by Royal so any diving you do is through Royal. You should be able to book it online through the excursions. I dived there last year Dec 21 it wasn't very good after a storm. Went back last Feb but didn't dive but I talked to some divers getting out of the water who said it was very good that day. I'll probably try it again if/when we go back. The water was chilly in Feb, I do recommend a wetsuit.

We don't drink soft drinks but my wife likes La Croix flavored water so we usually bring a 12 pack on board if we drive and not fly into Florida.

I think if this is your first cruise then the 7 nighter on the Adventure to St. Croix and Coco Cay would be your best choice. I too like the ABCs (just got back from there for the third time) but I think a young family is better off doing Coco Cay. And no, you don't have to spend any money on Coco Cay to enjoy a relaxing day. Regarding Carnival or RC... Did Carnival years ago a couple times, it was a lot of fun both times. Pretty much do RC now. RC has a lot of kids stuff, I assume that Carnival still does as well.

Just for the fact that the dive sites are on the other side of the island I don't think I would risk trying to dive outside the cruise ship. In fact I called around and no dive shop would take my reservation because of that. All said "book through the ship". Most of the dive boats go out in the morning before you could get there off a cruise ship. Would never make it there and back for an afternoon dive. As it was, we got back 15 mins after the gang plank was closed.