hubofhockey

M Class doesn’t really have a lot of specialty dining so the difference between Blu and MDR means more. Doesn’t the additional price also include drinks, wifi, and gratuities? If the veranda doesn’t include that, then it’s much less than $2k.

You're correct. A $10K cruise (I usually spend 10 or less) would get 50K points. At 1.3X value, it is $650. Even at a penny, it's $500. With Costco Citi, I would get 5% with Executive Membership (3% for credit card and 2% of executive membership) or $750. I would still use my Costco Citi and book with them though. They also give store credit in a similar amount. AMEX Platinum does provide gratuities on Oceania if you book with them, so not bad.

It's a penny a point to me. If you want to stretch it to 1.3 cents, I'm okay with that. You can transfer points to JetBlue at 1.3 and they would give you $195 credit for the $15K spend. If I used my Costco Citi card, I would get 3% cash back or $450, so why would I use my Amex on this Oceania offer?

If you take a $15,000 cruise with Oceania, that's like getting $150 back. It's not terrible, but also not motivating. The Celebrity offer seemed much better, but not targeted to everyone.

What type of card do you have? Maybe it's either targeted or not marketed to Platinum. The only cruise offer I see is 5X points for Oceania. I've been meaning to try them, but 5X points certainly doesn't motivate me to do that. If I were booking an Oceania cruise, I'd use my Amex, but I'd probably use it anyway.

I have the platinum card and didn’t get the offer. Some say it’s one of those targeted offers, not made to everyone.

I’d rent a car and drive. A taxi would cost more than two flights. We live in Bonita, halfway in between Tampa and Fort Lauderdale and are lucky that we can drive to either side in a couple of hours.

I’d book Aqua on an M Class ship, because of Blu and like the Persian Garden. On other classes, I’d just assume pay for specialty restaurants since there are more.

Do they still offer a package of a few specialties for a lower total price? Haven’t been on Celebrity since 2018.

My last cruise on the Princess was when they introduced their “new” Royal Class of ships, the Royal Princess. I absolutely hated the ship, from the color scheme, impersonality, to waiting endlessly for elevators, to the tiny balcony size, to the food. Our first Celebrity cruise was on an M class ship, the Millennium. We had aqua class for a very unique itinerary in the eastern Med, Croatia, Malta, etc. and loved it. Later, we went on the Millennium for Alaska, and even the smaller Azamara Quest for Southeast Asia. We’ll never go on Princess again. We have the Millennium booked for Japan, and thinking the Beyond for the Panama Canal / Southern Caribbean. I’ve seen complaints about Celebrity with extra charges, but that is consistent with everything else in our inflationary times. Celebrity does a really nice job of keeping up the M class ships and refreshing them. That size of ship is not economical to build new, unless at the very premium levels, but Celebrity has hit a sweet spot with them and they do great itineraries. Hope you enjoyed your cruise on the Regal as well. Even though those ships aren’t for us, they seem to have a loyal following.

The cruise lines give you NOTHING. Either TAs or even the big box stores travel will get you lots of OBC.

Do that itinerary on Azamara for many reasons, but mainly because they can dock right in the smaller city ports. That was my favorite cruise of all of them, not even close.

It can be hit or miss with the big box store travel agency. One size doesn't fit all. Big Box worked for me, getting me 13.5% benefits on what will be a sold out Japan itinerary.

Thank you for all of this. As soon as I booked my cruise, I second guessed myself for not doing a land vacation using both Tokyo and Kyoto as bases. We still may do an overnight at a hotel in Kyoto, just to better experience nightlife there and take in a maiko show at night.

Thanks, sometimes I over worry about things not working out and get nervous when I don’t understand the native language well.

Yeah, the guy with the beard. He said soda package is gone too.

I thought they were getting rid of the wine packages.

Is the express train anywhere near the cruise terminal in Osaka? I think it would be nice for Celebrity to run buses from Osaka to Kyoto station, but I don't think that's going to happen. I know there is a bullet train to Kyoto from Osaka station and just hope it's easy enough to get to Osaka station. Rather than go through all of the logistics, we do plan on doing it once, and staying overnight in Kyoto. On the way back, maybe it makes sense to take the train from Kyoto to Osaka station and then a taxi to the ship. I'll figure it out.

We are still 16 months away (4.21.24 cruise) but I booked the cruise and now see no transportation or help from Celebrity on how to get from Osaka to Kyoto. Now, I'm thinking the best thing to do is to take subway to the train and stay overnight in Kyoto to not avoid the pain of getting there. Seemingly, there is no "Kyoto on your own" with transportation. How are others planning to get to Kyoto?

Loved our three night stay at Hotel Icon. The restaurant is amazing with views across the bay, real high, and breakfasts are included and also as good as it gets. I’d stay there again and prices are good. My bet is that OP is set though.

We did an overnight at Ha Long Bay on Azamara, but I think this is different because it’s Japan and visas are needed for Vietnam. In this case, it’s saying we leave Osaka at 5 pm on day 2, meaning we will probably only have until 1:30 pm before heading back to the ship. Maybe they run shuttles between Kyoto and Osaka.

It’s nothing more than a price adjustment. If they had raised costs of new cruises $50, you wouldn’t even have noticed. Quite honestly, I am a little more alarmed at the increase in the price of Aqua class (over standard verandah cabins).

Yup, especially because the cruise port is long train ride away from Rome and choosing to stay near the train station in Rome isn’t all that convenient. Seems more a TripAdvisor forum or reviews area quick research thing.

I don’t look at it that way. I look at the charge and airline charges for bags (some charge for carryons now) as part of my cost. I compare what I expect to spend on a certain cruise on one line against another and decide on the one that gives me better value. I could go on Azamara and everything would be included and experience would be better, but pay more overall. It’s all relative. In this case, I view the $400 as an amount X gives to allocate where I want it to go. It’s part of the price, but an amount that has to be spent.

Just booked a cruise in Japan with an overnight in Osaka. We wanted to spend both days in Kyoto and possibly experience the evening/night there. Does it make sense to request permission from Celebrity to stay overnight in Kyoto. It would save some time and help logistically on day 2 as well, allowing us to see more. I know Kyoto hotels aren’t cheap, but in the overall scheme of things, $350 for a hotel might be worth it. I know Osaka has great dining, but this vacation to me is mainly about Tokyo and Kyoto and the other ports are more part of the vacation.