Team Stag

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.

Nice review. As frequent Celebrity Cruisers also, you hit on several items similar to our experience. Your statement at the end "about trying to figure out the right price / itinerary for VV for US" is absolutely brilliant. It completely sums up how we feel too. We will sail with VV again but figuring out which cruise makes sense for us is the conundrum.

I didn't read it that way. I read it as reviews AND VALUE (the OP specifically said "too expensive for what you get with a sky suite"). The OP also said - they are use to the Haven on NCL. With there final payment approaching and the Beyond out of Port Everglades for the foreseeable future, it is a Caribbean vacation. A quick search shows 90 days from now Sky Suites start at approx $1000 per night per room with the Haven only being slightly cheaper on the NCL Sky (Built in 2005) but being more expensive on other NCL ships / sailings in the Haven.

Bonaire and Grand Cayman have some of the best underwater scenery in the Caribbean. Bonaire will be more shore snorkeling (which allows you to see more easily). Cayman has lots of options also including Sting Rays and Turtles. Curacao isn't terrible either. A place like Tug Boat beach is really nice. You may want to check out the Snorkeling and Scuba page on CC as well. Lots of helpful information there.

That's a shame that you downgraded your room based on negative reviews. The Retreat on the Beyond is incredible. If you don't cancel, maybe consider a move up bid.

We are in that age group & tried VV this Fall. Here is our thoughts that we posted shortly after the cruise. It's oddly similar to the post from @alsmex above Two other things I would mention: First, VV has a new CEO who in his own words has said "its time to move from growing the brand to becoming profitable". Many regular VV cruisers have noticed the deals or incentives are not as frequent / good as the past. 2) We tend to book within 3 months of sailing & rarely see a suite available. Our experience is based off booking 6 weeks out in a standard balcony room. "We booked our fall cruise this year with Virgin. We haven't really had a bad Celebrity trip. But for us, the one thing Covid changed for us - we will always sail with a real balcony going forward. Which meant, the E-Class Oceanview room with glass that goes down but controlled by someone else is not an option. We did some Sky Suites while the prices were low; but now that demand is back it was time to look for something else. Just to see. And when we returned; we booked our next cruise with Celebrity. They do some stuff different for sure. Let's start with the room. The red hammock is a nice touch. One night - I dozed off in it while listening to the music from the pool deck & looking at the stars. It was great. But the other chair is so uncomfortable that you aren't sitting in it long. Which means two people don't get the chance to enjoy the balcony together for any extended period of time. The room looks like it's decorated by Ikea. The bed is so low to the ground that you have to unzip your suitcases in half to get them to fit under the bed. Not a huge deal; except for being a little older & trying to get out of bed at 3:00 a.m. with a bad knee was always a fun experience. And for the record, they only clean the room. I did't think it would matter; but we really missed the turndown service. We didn't know how much we enjoyed it; until it wasn't there. And the lack of couch in a standard balcony room was also missed. There one chair - slightly more comfortable than the metal thing on the balcony but not comfortable enough to sit long term. I never thought I'd miss a couch; but apparently I sit on it more than I remember. The food. We love food. Our family celebrates life with food. We love all food and respect the effort and style of the different chefs who prepare it. It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive for us to enjoy a product that those in the kitchen work so hard to make. So hearing about Celebrity taking a step back was always concerning to us. Hearing how great VV food is was a big reason we booked with them. The food is really good. The sourcing (quality) is better than standard Celebrity fare - if we are looking solely at base ingredients. The preparation was a more basic than Celebrity. It lacked flavors to make a meal outstanding. We complain on this board about Lobster. VV solved that issue by not serving any. We did order the seafood platter in Wake to compare to raw on 5. The quality of VV platter was not as good as what we have on Celebrity. Many on here would have fun reviewing their lobster tail 😄 . There was tons of fun food that we liked around the ship - Popcorn, soft pretzels, etc. The hamburger was definitely better than the grill (but not better than lumanie burger). And we complain on here about menu cuts; the VV menus are pretty simple as well - just a handful of dishes; so longer cruises the food will get repetitive. We have done the all included so regularly with Celebrity; items like no Tips, or wifi included was not a noticeable change for us. Leaving with a bar bill was. Everyone we talked to was having an incredible time. A common theme was "one of the best cruises I've ever been on". And most of those people were coming from Carnival. With a few from Norwegian. I did not meet anyone who cruised Celebrity regularly. Although we did see one of their beach bags on someone's shoulder. The night time entertainment was lively. I can honestly say we willingly stayed up later than we have on any other cruise & we danced (we don't often) more than any other cruise. It was a fun cruise. But as someone who plays an Engineer in real life and is focused on Efficiency & Water Reduction (& Lean manufacturing & Six Sigma and whatever buzz word to increase production, eliminate waste and raise profits is) - there were noticeable things. For example, no table clothes. Even in their "fine dining / speciality restaurants". One less thing to change, one less thing to wash. No real uniforms for the staff. They basically wore polos. Again - no uniforms for them to clean and press. The crew ate with the passengers (no additional dining area). And bottled water was no where to be found. Anywhere. It was fill up your cup at the water station (although carafe of water in the room was nice). The final things that stood out to us: 1) everything is on the app. I finally found a place with a printed schedule but they either need to figure out wifi quality or the app quality because it was hit or miss. 2) We smelled A LOT of weed. It was a 4 day cruise over the weekend; so I get it's gonna be a party. But WOW - I was shocked. 3) the need for reservations. Shows & meals. One more step that we were not use to coming from Celebrity. I encourage people to branch out and try something new. You may find something you like better than Celebrity. You also may realize that Celebrity isn't that bad. Cheers."

As mentioned, there is not a special drop for Retreat Luggage. There is a special entrance for Retreat check-in.

No time for regrets. What's done is done. My advice to move up candidates, only submit a bit if you are willing to take the worst (whatever your definition of worst is) cabin in that category. We love being forward on the new E class ships. In fact, 10110 is our favorite room. We did not have any creaking issues on our Beyond cruises in that room. The Beyond is a beautiful ship & the retreat amenities are really nice there. Being forward just puts you a short walk to elevator then quick access to either the pool deck, lounge or lumanie. Lots of positives to be excited about.

Room Service is no longer complimentary but may be an option also.

I feel like this use to be the case but now you have to wade through so much "noise" its hard to find valuable information. Back in 2001 when I joined, it was a true community sharing information. But as social media "evolved" in to what it is today; determining what real information is provided vs scorned passengers coming to vent / exact their revenge. And then the trolls, who have a low post count, drop some post and then disappear. The real difference from then & now: Before - people added their tips that enhanced THEIR trip. Now - people just want to know what Celebrity is going to do to make their trip great. Or how can they get something they believe they are owed from Celebrity. And then they return to complain when Celebrity doesn't do that. I do think the Port Pages, the Roll Calls and Speciality Pages really offer a ton of helpful information. But this Celebrity page could use a reboot. Or maybe all the people who have sworn off Celebrity can simply move to the pages of their new preferred cruise lines vs continuing to return here like a jilted partner continuing to stalk their ex 😂😂

So True. This statement is spot on.

One the surface, I don't have an issue with this. If it is simply offering some high end options (for a charge) in the retreat lounge, I'm good with it. If they want to offer a glass of Caymus for $30 (or whatever the going rate is) and some high end Bourbons, it just offers some more options for those in the Retreat. Now if they are moving entire products up to new pricing - for example if Decoy becomes $20 (which would be no longer covered in the Prem Package) vs the previous price of $17 (covered in the package) or something like Makers Mark has an adder going forward; then yes - that would be concerning. I'm taking the wait and see approach before getting too wound up about it.

I agree. It was a rude and unnecessary comment. I'm glad to see it was removed.

Nice quiet morning but let’s go stir the pot some. 🍿 I believe they have this type of suite on the silhouette already. And according to Celebrity’s website, it does include a Butler. Not the Butler & Team.

Congratulations on finding a vacation that you enjoyed and feel that you got a a great value. Cheers!

I'm not a TA but I believe when Celebrity made the change earlier this year to : Low Cruise Rates with Non-refundable deposit OR higher cruise rate with refundable deposit as well as raising the deposit amounts - it changed the way a lot of people book cruises now. Before, A popular cruise would open up for 2025 and you would put down a refundable deposit & then 2 years from now make that decision 90 before the cruise whether you wanted to go. Previous to the change, you would often see a lot of rooms open 90 days out. This new system forces people to be serious about the deposits and room holds they make where the previous system gave a lot of latitude on whether you actually book the cruise or not.

It's pretty much the same as changes as you have seen on land. People are less happy, more rude & more selfish. Cost have gone up on everything & to keep a competitive price point; some changes have been made. I looked at a cruise we booked (Veranda) for Thanksgiving in 2013 on their newest ship & a similar cruise on the Ascent for 2024 & the price difference is $200 - 11 years later. I can tell you theme parks & restaurants in my area ARE NOT in the neighborhood of 2013 pricing. People new to Celebrity seem to love the product. Long time cruisers seem to not like the product & are searching for new lines. The ships are still outstanding & the crew continues to bust their tails to give passengers excellent service. All things inevitably change; I just like to roll with. We still very much enjoy the post-covid cruise experience.

I'm pretty sure the obstruction is when you are on the balcony and you look left - you look right into the bridge portion hanging over the side. You get a chance to be up close and personal with staff driving the ship 😂. But you have a good shot of seeing Bug if Capt Kate is on the ship. We saw the Cat several times sunning itself.

We have not done the Grand Cayman scuba excursion specifically but have done ship scuba excursions in the past. Their tends not to be a lot of information before the cruise. At some point (normally a day before), they will ask you to come down with your cert cards to prove you are certified. They may also ask you for your sizes of equipment to help get it staged. We find the most cruise excursion dives to be on the beginner end. They tend not to go deep and they don't last long. Our most recent cruise excursion dive, we were in the water for 45 mins and returned to the ship with 1700 psi left in air. Last time we were in Cayman (March 2023), the water temps at 80 degrees. We didn't need a wetsuit. Also, when we cruise into Cayman, we use Just Dive. Their shop is about 100 yards from where tenders let off. Take a look at the scuba & snorkeling page (under Cruise Discussion Topics) and you may find additional information.

I am in support of this. What can we do regarding the bluetooth speakers that people like to blast as well?

VV installed a new CEO in September (when the previous one retired). In some of his early interviews, he shared his focus will be transitioning from launching a new cruise line to profitability. Since then, I have also seen a reduction of discounts and booking promotions. I'm guessing some more changes are headed down the line for VV.

While I can’t speak to “every sailing”; I can speak to the cruises I have been out of in Florida. And everyone since March of 2022 I’ve been on has had it on day 1. It’s starts a little later (12:30) and they close their doors a little later (2-2:30) and since everyone has to be on my 3:30 (for a 4 pm departure) most can make it without issue. for this conversation, I went and pulled the scheduled for the next Beyond cruise (which the OP referenced) and this is what it shows:

The Concierge Lunch is back to Day 1 and has been for quite a while now.