2chiefs

On 10/8/2018 at 11:49 PM, jonbgd said:

To be honest its about drinking the coolaid

Every cruise line has it group of loyalists
THey all have the perks that cruiser likes

While people like the OASIS class its not my favorite

I like the Radiance class for Royal
The Spirit Class for Carnival
The Vista class for HAL
I cruise to see the ocean not a promenade that Im trapped in

Agreed. If there was only one best cruise line for everyone then there would ony be one cruise line in business.

"One Man's Ceiling is another man's floor" (Paul Simon)

6 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

An interesting read.  Thank you.

This quote from you made me smile:

‘. It just seemed like those on NCL wanted to do ‘stuff’ vs those on X who seemed to appear that they wanted some slight entertainment but wanted to be left alone.’

That describes us perfectly, so we’ll stay with X 😀.

We're the same way. We don't dance or party into the wee hours. A nice show after late dining and we are done for the night. It's what we've always done on RCL and we are looking forward to our next 14 day cruise on Reflection (2nd time on X). We are open for other cruise lines however and may try NCL if the price/itinerary is right. Thanks for the review..

Must have been a really talented guy to be able to carry 2 plates of appetizers and 4 White Russians out of the lounge, all the time vaping. Someone really should have told him no white robe after Labor Day though.

Maybe he was the headliner juggler Bob mentioned.

T

Yes. Edge may get a T pool but so far that is unconfirmed.

Thanks!

Haven't been on M class in a while but I sure do miss the Tpool. Just loved that pool. Hankering to get back on one just for that!

Am I to understand that the heated T-pool in the Solarium is unique to M-class only?

Thanks

T

Interesting. That would be a little difficult.

I've used BOGO drink coupons many time where the bartender would allow me to come back after I drank the first one. But milkshakes? Hmmm Drink one now and another an hour later might not be wise.

It doesn't hurt to ask though. I'm sure it depends on the person at JR at the time and whether he/she can remember you...

Or, be bold. Drink two!!

One more thing:

A little larger cabin. Very nice on longer cruises or B2Bs.

I'd rather leasurely sit in the airport for a few hours sipping some coffee from one of the restaurants and reading a book than sitting on the ship with nothing open and people scrambling off. We've never had a problem checking luggage in 4 hours ahead of time. I prefer a little cusion going to the airport anyway as traffic could be an issue if something major happens on the freeway which would shut it down. (It's happened to us before). Better early than late as far as I'm concerned....

T

We tried to get Christmas week but are sailing mostly free from casino certificates hubby and daughter earned on cruise last month. I was hoping the ice show would be Christmas. Maybe next year for Christmas cruise. I guess I'm so used to Christmas being a month long thing that I thought they would do the same. We will enjoy the decorations and I will bring some for our door at least. Hopefully we will get some Christmas cookies and such.

I don't remember any Christmas cookies...

They build ginger bread houses so you'd think they would at least make some gingerbread men cookies.

Anyway, nothing can beat the ranger cookies anyway!!

We are on the Freedom Christmas week this year and looking forward to all the special frills. Christmas dinner in the MDR...do they just move the turkey dinner to that day or is there a totally special menu? What's on it?

I can't remember any special Christmas dinner. I'm not saying they didn't have one. If they did, I guess it wasn't memorable. We've been on two Christmas cruises.

I went into the Freedom buffet for a lunch time burger. Worst burger on the high seas, had the texture of rubber. They must grill them hours before and placed in the steam trays. MDR food was great !

I agree. Never been fond of them. Sometimes the buns are dry as well. Hot dogs were good last time I tried them however.

We LOVE cruising in December!! :hearteyes:

We do too!

For the OP:

We cruise every December and have cruised a couple Christmas' and one Thanksgiving.

Decorating usually starts right after Thanksgiving and keeps going till the Chrismas cruise. If the ship is building a new gingerbread house neighborhood, you'll see it being built day by day which is fun to watch. Unfortunately, we didn't see any Chrismas shows except during the actual Christmas cruises. I believe they will have Christmas movies on the pool deck and in the movie theater close to Christmas (not sure).

For Christmas cruises, we've seen some very nice Chrismas themed shows, ice shows etc. Also, they will have crew and passenger caroling in the promenade or other open space.

That would be great!! We (Barbara and I) would love to meet you onboard the Reflection. And yes, my name reflects my connection to the German Navy. I am retired as well but still in the German Navy Reserve.

Great! We look forward to it. See you and Barbara on board. Also, if you aren't on the roll call already, there is an active roll call going for this cruise as well. Lot's of good information being exchanged on shore excursions....

T

Thanks again to all of you!

 

<<<SNIP>>>We are booked on the Reflection this upcoming December for a 14 day cruise. <<<SNIP>>>

I believe we are on the same cruise on December 7th. I hope to meet up with you. By the looks of your screen name, it appears you are in the German Navy? My wife and I are both retired from the US Navy. Perhaps we could meet up and compare notes?

Cheers

T

What about azamara?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I think the OP was looking for something a little less expensive than Celebrity. I would like to try Azamara if I could find a nice deal.

T

Thanks for all your responses!

 

Well, we fly over from Hamburg to Miami not only for cruising. In fact, we always spent about an additional week in Southern Florida. Either before the cruises, in between or afterwards.

 

I will check with MSC to find out how this match could be done. Pretty nice if this really works

 

Any thoughts about the Serenade and the Explorer of the Seas in particular? These two ships have pretty good itineraries in December 2019. And I do not really care for the Mega cruisers such as Oasis Class.

 

Thanks again!!

 

Frank

Hi Frank,

We have been on both the Explorer and the Serenade. They are both wonderful ships and in our opinion, a lot nicer than than the new mega ships. One thing nice about both of these ships is the Diamond Lounge which you may enjoy. The Diamond lounges, (unless recently moved) are located at the top of the ship with wonderful views. The newer RCI ships are locating the Diamond Lounges in the interior.

On our recent Alaska cruise on the Explorer, we really enjoyed the lounge when the ship made a close approach to a glacier. We started out in our room on the balcony but then we decided to go up to the Diamond lounge and it was incredible being able to see forward and both sides of the ship at the same time.

We prefer the Explorer over the Serenade due to the promenade but the Serenade (Radiance class ship) is designed with outward visibility and lots of glass. So it all depends on what you think you might like to try.

As others have said here, the experience is different with lots of activities. The ice show on the Explorer is incredible. No ice show on the Serenade.

We are more laid back so we've begun booking Celebrity but we also book RCI. We are also considering a river cruise in Europe for 2020.

Cheers - T

Please leave the lawn alone. Wine and cheese sail-away parties with folk singer epitomize the modern luxury theme X seeks to portray.

That sounds like fun! Does X normally have wine & cheese sail-away parties?

100% agree. I'm always surprised at how many people want to sit at the pool. You can't get a better seat than a balcony. And I know many are inside cabins and that I understand. But to leave my balcony, with room service to go to the pool..... Nope.

 

And back to topic. I wouldn't miss it at all. There is really nothing to draw me up there.

 

enjoy

Opposite here. We don't go on a cruise to sit on the balcony and get room service. You can get that with any hotel with a view. The ocean doesn't change much except an occasional passing ship. (Retired Navy here so the ocean is not a big deal I guess). We like to socialize and meet and talk to other people and participate in activities around the ship. When we do want to relax and unwind, we like to sit by the solarium and read our kindles and people watch.

As far as the lawn is concerned, we've only been on one Celebrity cruise so far and it was a short one so they didn't have any activities on the lawn. It was not a draw for us as we have a lawn at home (LOL).

I guess that's what's good about cruising. There is something for everyone.

We are considering this tour for 2020. I would imagine different times of the year have their pros and cons. We would like to hear about what time of the year you like to take a European river cruise and why.

Thanks in advance for your input!!

I checked 9 prices yesterday and then again today just for comparison. Apples to Apples, Oranges to Oranges.

Same rooms, same 2 perks etc....

3 Cruises

3 Classes (Veranda, Concierge, Aqua.

Of the nine:

4 went down by about $100

5 went up by $100 to $200

So, no real difference on this small sampling.....

If you have mostly cruised RCL, the biggest difference is that Celebrity does not have the equivalent of the Diamond Lounge on their ships. The Elite cocktail event nightly is similar but is more limited in drinks offered and appetizers offered. Most people on Celebrity have drink packages as part of their fare (unlike RCL) so the Elite free cocktails are not much of an incentive anymore but still a nice touch.

We've only cruise Celebrity once. We have two more long ones booked however. We had the drink package but we still enjoyed the Elite event due to the social aspect of it (rather than the "free drinks" which mean nothing if you have the package). The elite event will have people that have cruised multiple times and really enjoy cruising. Therefore, you already have something in common with all of them. We will continue to attend for that reason only. Agreed, the drinks and appetizers are not an incentive.

Coming up on our third transatlantic on Oasis Class. Totally different vibe when the ships sails with 2000 fewer kids.

Different vibe ... good?

Different vibe ... bad?

(for us it would be good...)

I've never done a transatlantic but have done the 5-day crossing from Hawaii to Vancouver. Definitely a different vibe...

But since Royal owns Celebrity, why would they evolve one brand to emulate the other? They are marketing one towards one group, the other towards another group. trying to expand each to appeal to all simply confuses the customer and likely ends up with lower satisfaction.

Maybe.

But Toyota owns Lexus but they both have small cars and they both huge SUV's so I don't think that argument holds. They don't appear to have lower satisfaction...

They are different price points and have to target their product to all levels of income.

I'm not a marketer but I think you need to appeal to multiple price points with the largest group of buyers. Right now there are many Baby Boomers who generally don't have kids, are probably looking for adult only venues. RCI being at a slightly lower price point than Celebrity might be a market they could exploit..... I, for one, would book them....

Interesting discussion....

Last 9 years we have cruised exclusively on Celebrity and love it. Feels like going home every time. But we are retiring and want to try new things. One of those things is other cruise lines. We are considering Anthem of the Seas for 11 days to southern caribbean. We chose Anthem for the big ship experience (but not gigantic) that we have never had and said we would never do but retirement makes you look at things differently.

 

What I am soliciting advice on is the differences we should expect between our Celebrity experiences. such as:

 

What is the difference, other than size, between the Jr suite and Oceanview with LG Balcony? Are there any perks for getting a Jr suite? Priority boarding, free spa access,goodies in the room etc..

 

On Celebrity we have always had free access to the Persian Gardens because of our cabin type. Is there anything like Persian Gardens on the Anthem? Didn't seem to be but the website for RCCL is not very informative.

 

Does it seem crowded on the Anthem ( I know very subjective question)? Based on their gross tonnage per passenger it is slightly smaller than most of the Celebrity ships but not by much

 

I have read that for shows and specialty restaurants reservations are a must and well in advance of departure. True?

 

Do they allow smoking in the Casino?

 

Thanks. Any tips about the Anthem are appreciated.

We've been on a couple Oasis cruises and it never felt crowded except on embarkation day. RCI designed the ship to spread the crowds.

We've had a Jr Suite a couple times. No special perks that I'm aware of except I hear they now have access to Coastal Kitchen (they didn't have that when we cruise a Jr Suite). The Jr suite is just bigger in size than a balcony and you get double loyalty points. None of the other perks in regular suites.

Nothing similar to Persian Gardens.

I'm not sure of current smoking policy in the casino. I know it used to be allowed and some of the older RCI ships design required us to transit through a casino when going forward or aft on the same deck. It would always drive us non-smokers nuts. (We liked the Celebrity Reflection design where you didn't have to transit the casino)

We like the Oasis a lot but we also like the more laid back atmosphere of the Celebrity so I think you should absolutely at least try it.

Are you Elite on Celebrity? If so, you can enjoy Diamond level perks on RCI. Unlike Celebrity, there is an actual Diamond Lounge on RCI ships which many Diamond and above folks enjoy.

I'm sure others will chime in and answer your other questions..

<<<SNIP>>>Stick with your strengths.

Like Montgomery Wards, Kodak, Sears, K-Mart, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Radio Shack & Blackberry?

Sometimes you have to evolve and expand.....

:-)