Keys Kathy

We are trying Virgin at the end of the month. Did you go to the Pajama Party? Anything we should be aware of? Were you able to get seated without a reservation at the reservation restaurants?

I recently booked 2 Yacht Clubs, so we now have 3 on the books. We are looking at Princess for an April cruise. Yacht Club gives you a "Retreat" experience for a veranda price on X. Not worrying about them removing Butlers, changing tips, etc.

Actually, it was individual baked Alaska.

I just had the BEST Celebrity Cruise EVER! They upgraded us to a Suite and we had TWO Butlers! They brought us WARM caramel croissants every morning. They served Wagu fillet every night in Lumenia, and every time I sat at a Black Jack table, I won AND it was a $5. table. The buffet had King Crab at lunch and the burgers were cooked to order, even rare if you wanted it. They had a fabulous lamb loin one night and the JVC meatballs with the mozzarella in the center. And then I woke up.......

OK, let's do a quick survey. Just your CC status, please, and if you are staying with X or looking elsewhere. Elite-plus, booking elsewhere.

I really like the M & S class. I love the public spaces on the Edge class, but not the IV. I will never understand why they committed to 4 ships like that until they got feedback from the public AND continued on with the Ascent when they were bleeding money. Virgin put their latest ship on hold.

I think back then it was the Cova Cafe.

I know there will not be any OBC in the Retreat. Hopefully, at those prices, tips will be included.

What I miss, and we are not even close to the recent cutbacks. What happened to the crafts? I learned decoupage, how to make a beaded lanyard (which I still have) scrapbooking, and more. Heck, I would be happy for classes in towel animals! Give my MIND something to do again! We also made a list of other things that no longer exist. Food wise, no more JVS meatballs, last sea day buffet. In the Elite lounge, no more lox and bagels, champagne, or Bloody Marys, only pastry and coffee offered by an indifferent staff served on napkins or paper cups. To be honest, we only went on disembarkation day, so maybe that was the reason. No more Captain's Club gala celebration with the buffet. That event used to be jammed! I bet there weren't more than 60 people there on the Connie which had over 900 Elite members on board. There used to be all the entertainment at the Gala, I still get goosebumps when I remember Cassie singing with the Acapella group! Entertainment- the lack of speakers who spoke on things like the gold standard and the contributions NASA made to the world, the lack of crafts as noted above, no more Mariachi's in Cozumel at 5:00 on the pool deck, no more A Capella groups In Concierge class, no more Q-tips or cotton balls in a container. Just a box with wrappings you have to fight and there simply are not enough. No more flowers in the room until we received our CC rose. Aqua Class, no more lip balm, face spray etc. Then they made the RECENT changes......

The sad part is, X does not care! I liked the X perks, but we are looking at a Princess cruise for our wedding anniversary in a mini-suite with more perks at a lower cost.

The crazy thing is, they say after October 4th, they are keeping the most popular items. Who did not want to have tips prepaid? Everyone pays tips, only some people use WIFI or a drink package. I wish they would go back to the Big Best Better or the other thing they called the same exact thing. Then WE got to choose. What a concept!

We have a Feb 3rd, 2025 on the Beyond with friends and April 6, 2025 on Ascent with friends. Other than our friends, we wouldn't be there. We were on the Millie in Feb and experienced the S**t show in the Buffet in the evening. We ended up there because we had to wait well over an hour to get a Select Table WITH a reservation. By the time they paged us, we had finished eating from the much-reduced buffet. I would get a stir fry, Hubby would get pasta and our friends would get sandwiches. NOT premium food by any means. I just booked another Yacht Club this morning for Feb '24. It is a shame, I would have liked to experience an X Suite on Ascent, where I understand they finally got the ship in a ship right. The Apex had Lumenia on deck 12 on the side. The dining room was very noisy, not like on the other class ships. Who knows! Maybe we'll hit the Lottery! The worst thing is, Celebrity just doesn't seem to care. They keep jacking up prices and reducing what they deliver.

Yes, I moved on. Prices are too high, the product has declined. I liked the Elite Plus perks, but the line has sunk so low the perks do not make up for the differences in food etc. We are on MSC and Virgin.

You have to call to get the CC discount. Classic and Select get 10%, Elite and Elite Plus get a 15% off the upgrade price.

We sail in Yacht Club Oct 29th

You are best off calling. Keep in mind that if you are in Captian's Club, you may be entitled to an additional discount.

I don't care who the CEO is, I am not sailing with them because of their prices and reduction of services and quality. Now they are reducing the offering of "All Included" I am booked with MSC and Virgin.

Celebrity is starting their new "All Inclusive" on Oct 4th. If I am reading it correctly, it looks like the only things included are a drink package and wifi. No more tips. I am sure the price for AI hasn't dropped. Another rip-off from X. Thoughts? ENHANCED FLEXIBILITY AND CHOICE Starting October 4, 2023, newly purchased All Included packages will include our most popular amenities, Classic Drinks and Basic Wi-Fi for all guests in the stateroom. These inclusions will continue to provide a significant savings of $200-$800 per person compared to onboard pricing.

Oh, silly me. I was thinking, Canadian, cold......

I bring my Brita water bottle with the filter. I pour it into that and it helps the taste. The now have bottle refill station around too.

Are you removing the n?

Don't you worry about it! It makes it much easier to find your cabin. When we have been just off the elevators, people commented how they knew they were going to the proper side by seeing the decorations. We always put up a Conch Republic Flag. (The flag of the Keys). Since one took a walk about 7 years ago, I have added a sign that says "If you take this flag, you will have bad luck forever". It hasn't gone missing since. One day we heard some children outside that door. The little girl slowly read it and when she finish "bad luck forever" she told her brother, Tommy, don't touch it! We also have magnets that let the Cabin Steward know if we are in or out. At Christmas, we have lights. We heavily decorated for our Mardi Gras cruise as did many other people. If it is any kind of Holiday, we decorate for it. I guess we are the "tacky" people. I would rather be tacky than try to get into the wrong cabin.

We gave this to some friends we sailed with.

Great! We called over the Chef and put ourselves in his hands. He coordinated with the Sommelier and we had a fabulous dinner. The Aztec dessert was the best I ever had. Oh, and the short rib was amazing.

Looking at the current menu, it is so different that we had on our Transatlantic, no lobster dish, although they still have the Aztec Dessert, which was on of the best I have ever had. Depending on what they are charging now, I don't know if I would spend the money. Hopefully others that have been more recently will chime in.