Team Stag

My choice would be the Equinox. First, you seem excited about Aqua; so go do it. Also, being a holiday cruise, you should expect it to be full. I find the S-Class ships have more smaller venues which makes the ship not feel as full to me vs the E-Class where you just have a giant martini bar & eden bar.

Ultimately, you need to try to figure out what kind of cruise you want to have. We are doing a 3 day Reflection Cruise in a couple weeks & we know we are going to party. We have steam to blow off and that's going to happen. So for us - MDR and more likely the OVC or Room Service will be our dinners of choice. The idea of sitting down for a large delicious meal after being in the sun all day after too many adult beverages would be a waste of money for us. We love the specialty restaurants & the great selection they have of them on the Reflection. As you can see from this post, there are multiple different opinions on their favorite (ours is Murano followed by LPC based on the show / menu). Now, if you are celebrating a special occasion - a specialty restaurant is a GREAT way to do that. Speciality restaurants also tend to have excellent service & a step up in food from the MDR as well (although we find great service lots of places with Celebrity). As others mentioned, you need to pick a time for check in. If you go to your cruise planner, you will see when Check In opens. If you want an early boarding time, I strongly advise you check in on that first day. Especially with a 3 day cruise, most fellow passengers will want to maximize time on the ship. Enjoy the cruise!

I'm sorry - this was not intended to be directed at you. It was a simple observation of things that I read on the internet (especially between here and the book). We see it regularly that people can have complete opposite experiences on the same cruise.

Now that's a 100% accurate truth bomb. I read some postings & just wonder if they are paid by other cruise lines to spread misinformation. 😂

I agree. Although my take is things were never as bad as some made it out to be. Some became hyper focused on one element and allowed it to influence their trip or they were convinced of shortcoming without actually stepping on ship. I also believe that things in some areas are not as great as others claim. Reality is hanging out somewhere in the middle. Everybody cruises a little differently; so things important to one may not even make the next person's radar etc. It's been interesting to see some posters who swore they were done with Celebrity forever continuing to hang around. Either going out somewhere different wasn't as glamorous as they thought or all the new opinions of positivity brought them back.

I thought the Equinox had one of those little step down areas off the Sunset Bar.

So the butlers are back. But still have way too many rooms to efficiently handle all their rooms effectively. So they will end up focused on some rooms that either are the loudest, the neediest or the best tippers. But no way that 26 rooms are getting the full butler treatment as many claim on this board. So basically the same as before the change. One overworked person with the butler title….time for the new complaining to start (I barely saw my butler, my room service took 90 mins due my butler busy with other duties, etc etc)

Is it possible your TA is confused Aqua with Aqua Suite? That would explain the pricing difference the TA sees.

As far as the classics, they have them available from the Luminae kitchen. On our last Apex cruise, my wife had French Onion soup and I had Escargot at least 5 of the 7 nights. Caesar salad and steak was always an option as well. Or simple chicken breast too. Now if you are looking to order a specific dish (like Beef Wellington - if they even still do that) from the MDR menu; that would be more of a special request.

We dove with Neal Watson in September. I agree with you that their outfit is professional and provides a fun low stress experience. My only warning would be - look over your equipment closely. Since this was a short cruise for us; we only brought regs and mask. My BCD tank strap came undone twice and I saw several other tanks floating due to bad tank straps. One person had some problems with their reg and needed replacement mid dive. Some of their equipment has seen a lot of action.

I agree with @RichYak. You will have one Chiq Night on Day 2 (sea day). I will almost guarantee that. No way that they give you your other Chiq Night 2 nights later on an 8 night cruise. I'd wait until you get much closer to the cruise to allow the App to update itself.

They will also have the location, time and date on the app for your cruise as well. Look under the heading of "Loyalty and Suites". Under my recent cruise it was offered from 12:30 to 2 and did include the Short Rib (but no burger - I love a burger 😁). As others have mentioned, we find it a very relaxing way to start the cruise. We also find the bar service much easier than waiting at other places around the ship as everyone is rushing on.

We have always gotten a table for two in Luminae. Now be warned, they tend to be very close to other tables of 2 due to the space constraints.

On our upcoming cruise it is listed at $169.99 (although currently priced at 157.99 - 6% off)

Technically they removed the balconies on most of the rooms on the E-Class 😂

I did not realize they built out space on Deck 15 for second Retreat area on an S-Class ship. That's the first I've seen of it (I'm normally a Equinox / Reflection - S Class passenger). Thank you for the information!

Keep in mind even the S-Class ships with Retreat sun decks are only the sun deck. They do not have a pool or private bar like the E-Class ships. They do have waitstaff to get drinks and such but they are walking down to the another bar. So it's nothing like the E-Class if you are trying to recreate that experience.

We use the Auto Train from time to time. We like it a lot. HOWEVER, even when upgrading to a room or roomette; I don't always sleep great (late night in the bar doesn't help). And sometimes even the 45 minute ride to get to my house takes every bit of energy I can muster. 😂 I agree with others. If you are coming in a day early, I would try to chop away at as much of the drive as you can to make sure the next morning is an easy and relaxing experience.

Sounds like you answered your own question. If you don't feel like it's worth it to you; then it's not worth it to you.

I hope it does change. Only to watch all these people who have swore off Celebrity due to the Butler change come running back and book up all the sky suites.

I mean it's on Facebook so it's gotta be true....

We are still fans. When we talk about vacations, a Celebrity cruise is always included in the discussions. We have always enjoyed sailing with them. We recognize the prices have gone up; but what hasn't? I think a some people allow outside frustrations to creep in and use Celebrity as a punching bag. Inflation is rampant and the dollar just doesn't go as far as it did. Heck, I was in the best grocery store this week and a chuck roast was $9.49 / lb! That's just insane. I travel a lot. And I have seen changes throughout all types travel & vacationing. Airlines have made cuts while raising prices and add on fees. Airport lounges are also making all kinds of reductions of offerings or price increases (or both). Hotels are cleaning the rooms when they feel like it vs everyday. I live in Orlando & have you looked at the price of a Disney vacation?? We use to have annual passes pre-covid & the cost to buy the same one now is almost double. And don't even get me started on Restaurants. They are a shell of their former selves. Even my favorite pricey steakhouses have yet to return to their quality standards while raising prices. Fortunately most of the grumbles having been going on so long now; it's just background noise to me.

While I know we love to just rip apart every aspect of Celebrity and just assume its due to cost cutting, I would remind you; the sewage processing system on the ship is nothing like you are use to at home. Being able to easily break down and flow through pipes is very important aspect of the paper. Just like an RV.

I never had an issue getting a table for 2 with a set dining time. So if you are at 8:30 and request a table for 2; I would say the Maitre'D would most likely honor that request. We do check in with the Maitre'D when we board just to make sure they know that we prefer to sit alone. The one time we are assigned 8;30 due to nothing else available (waitlisted on anytime) we learned we had been moved to Anytime during that check in. We feel that the 8:30 seating is less crowded and flows pretty well. One last comment, since this is your first time on Celebrity, don't go to sleep on the dinner at the Ocean View Cafe. When we eat late, we sometimes go get "appetizers" around 5 or 6 at the OCV and end up eating an entire meals and missing the dinner reservation. 😂

I don't think the higher prices have attracted Celebrity passengers but rather the changes (price increases / cuts) at Celebrity under their new president has longtime Celebrity passengers looking for other options. With a big focus on food & adults, VV is a natural transition for Celebrity passengers looking for a new home.