If I wanted to visit Coco Cay, I'd cruise Royal.

[zitsky]

28 minutes ago, mrgabriel said:

 

Okay. Again, your choice.

 

We've been to pretty much all of the Caribbean Islands 4 or 5 times and there's only so much to do ... 

 

And I live in Canada - from October through April, there is nothing more attractive than a beach!

I know it’s my choice.  You don’t have to explain it to me.  I also know that I’m free to book a Royal Caribbean cruise.  But I don’t.  I book Celebrity.

[horseymike]

On 6/28/2023 at 1:08 PM, Eve said:

I can't be the only one who is dismayed that the new head of Celebrity is trying to incorporate more "Royalness" into the cruise line. I choose Celebrity because I enjoy the more upscale experience that it has traditionally offered. The blurring of the brands makes me think she is going to look for more way to cut costs on Celebrity at the expense of service, amenities included in fares, and a more centralized focus on being "family-oriented". There are already enough cruise lines that cater to water slides, kid-friendly amenities and mega ships. The "luxury" lines like Regent and Oceania skew much older than I like and are far too expensive to allow me to cruise regularly on them. Celebrity was always the sweet spot. A little more refined than Royal and a lot less stuffy than Regent. I feel like the upscale elegance the line has always been known for is not trending in the right direction with the addition of Coco Cay. Thoughts???

 

[horseymike]

Not every Celebrity Cruise will be stopping at Coco Cay.

I like key west and I like Coco Cay , for me these options are very interesting.

I understand about trying to avoid the kiddie crowd , so thankfully there are several different 

itineraries to choose from. 

[cw2go]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

We’ll have to agree to disagree.  I go on cruises to see different countries not sit on a beach.  Telling me to go book something else works until they make the beach part of every cruise.  Kaching!

 

Zitsky we are cool and you know I love your humor but on this topic I really don't follow? What countries are being pulled for CocoCay? I see people post daily that they don't want Jamaica, Grand Cayman or Nassau? So at this point, in the Caribbean, what do we want that is within a reasonable distance from Florida for a  4-7 day cruise? I understand many are concerned that this is a slippery slope to RCCL world... but sadly I believe it's inevitable. We have few choices, adapt/adjust or sail elsewhere or stop sailing.

 

For me.... a private island it an easy port to avoid or make the best of...

Patty 

 

 

[jwlane]

2 hours ago, Mark_K said:

 the vast majority of the Celebrity cruises visiting Coco Cay are three and four day cruises

Oh, there you go producing data that spotlights the silliness of all this.  The sky is NOT falling.

[volk904]

Celebrity only has CooCoo on a limted amount of cruises.  Book one that does not have it. 

[NMTraveller]

10 hours ago, marieps said:

Total agreement with you.  Too bad they didn't designate an M class ship for these short hops.

The E class was built for a younger generation,  so IMHO the E class should be used for all of the short length booze cruises.

Edited June 29, 2023 by NMTraveller

[markeb]

10 hours ago, marieps said:

Total agreement with you.  Too bad they didn't designate an M class ship for these short hops.

I don’t think that makes business sense. Short cruises are typically younger cruisers and new to cruising or Celebrity (previous post in this thread). Reflection has more suites and is newer and more modern than the M Class. Get your new customers hooked on a new(er) ship and ideally a suite. M Class doesn’t do that. 

[zitsky]

27 minutes ago, markeb said:

I don’t think that makes business sense. Short cruises are typically younger cruisers and new to cruising or Celebrity (previous post in this thread). Reflection has more suites and is newer and more modern than the M Class. Get your new customers hooked on a new(er) ship and ideally a suite. M Class doesn’t do that. 

Get them hooked on a new ship then move those new ships somewhere else so they don’t get TOO used to them.

[markeb]

9 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Get them hooked on a new ship then move those new ships somewhere else so they don’t get TOO used to them.

Whatever.

[hcat]

31 minutes ago, markeb said:

I don’t think that makes business sense. Short cruises are typically younger cruisers and new to cruising or Celebrity (previous post in this thread). Reflection has more suites and is newer and more modern than the M Class. Get your new customers hooked on a new(er) ship and ideally a suite. M Class doesn’t do that. 

Reflection out of Miami ( Miami djs) and the bar area out back was always a great party ship..( for us one and done) but works for fun in the sun!

 

E Class has so much  more to offer for dining,  shows, bars, indoor, outdoor space,  varied venues, curated art,  live plantings ..upscale shopping   etc.  Seems  it would be a waste for shorter party cruises.  Even a week on E class is sometimes too short!

[markeb]

1 minute ago, hcat said:

Reflection out of Miami ( Miami djs) and the bar area out back was always a great party ship..( for us one and done) but works for fun in the sun!

 

E Class has so much  more to offer for dining,  shows, bars, indoor, outdoor space,  varied venues, curated art,  live plantings ..upscale shopping   etc.  Seems  it would be a waste for shorter party cruises.  Even a week on E class is sometimes too short!

Agree. I think Reflection is the perfect middle ground for a short cruise. We enjoyed our one Reflection cruise, but I wasn’t looking at the business case. I’d be hard pressed to put an E Class on a short cruise. 
 

And I don’t know that these will be party cruises. Just probably a younger dynamic. 

[SusieAV8R]

23 hours ago, zitsky said:

I don’t mean to offend anyone but if I want RC I can go book it in 15 minutes.  We came from NCL 5 years ago and Viking.  No water slides or that kind of ship.  We like Celebrity for the staff, the food and the overall onboard experience.

I hold RCL shares and have for about 10+ years, but like you zit sky, we like X for the staff, food & on board experience. We could book RC in a heartbeat but we don't want that experience.  I understand X is trying to position itself for the younger PAX, but why turn X into a mini-me/RC?

[horseymike]

3 minutes ago, SusieAV8R said:

I hold RCL shares and have for about 10+ years, but like you zit sky, we like X for the staff, food & on board experience. We could book RC in a heartbeat but we don't want that experience.  I understand X is trying to position itself for the younger PAX, but why turn X into a mini-me/RC?

Someone will have to replace us at some point in spite of how we feel about it. 😂

[NMTraveller]

[NMTraveller]

8 minutes ago, horseymike said:

Someone will have to replace us at some point in spite of how we feel about it. 😂

Yes but they could have replaced us with the 40 to 50s instead of the 20 to 30s . 😂

Edited June 30, 2023 by NMTraveller

[zitsky]

5 hours ago, cw2go said:

 

Zitsky we are cool and you know I love your humor but on this topic I really don't follow? What countries are being pulled for CocoCay? I see people post daily that they don't want Jamaica, Grand Cayman or Nassau? So at this point, in the Caribbean, what do we want that is within a reasonable distance from Florida for a  4-7 day cruise? I understand many are concerned that this is a slippery slope to RCCL world... but sadly I believe it's inevitable. We have few choices, adapt/adjust or sail elsewhere or stop sailing.

 

For me.... a private island it an easy port to avoid or make the best of...

Patty 

 

 

I think as I said I personally MIGHT be interested in a southern Caribbean cruise but it would be more than 4 days and it might not be compatible with Coco Cay if you look at the map.

 

People say “but X has to get younger cruisers”.  Sure they do.  But don’t mistreat your existing customers.

 

Everyone is so excited to get a new ship in the Caribbean,  I know the people on canceled cruises are not as excited.  When I’ve had a cruise canceled I wasn’t jumping up and down.

 

I don’t need X to be just like RC.

[markeb]

17 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

 

Please report back after you actually cruise.

[markeb]

16 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Yes but they could have replaced us with the 40 to 50s instead of the 20 to 30s . 😂

They are. We’re old. 

[D C]

7 hours ago, mrgabriel said:

 

Okay. Again, your choice.

 

We've been to pretty much all of the Caribbean Islands 4 or 5 times and there's only so much to do ... 

 

And I live in Canada - from October through April, there is nothing more attractive than a beach!

And I live in Michigan where we have snow or brown for nearly 6 months of the year. 

 

A beach is one of the 9 circles of hell in my book. Few places where I would rather NOT be stuck for a day of my cruise. 

[georgiaguy]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

People say “but X has to get younger cruisers”.  Sure they do.  But don’t mistreat your existing customers.

 

Everyone is so excited to get a new ship in the Caribbean,  I know the people on canceled cruises are not as excited.  When I’ve had a cruise canceled I wasn’t jumping up and down.

 

I don’t need X to be just like RC.

 

At the risk of being argumentative, do I not count as an existing customer? What about the others here that have expressed interest?

Also, I don’t think everyone is upset. I have seen a number of people express satisfaction with the change. One person said they got an extra day in Europe (10 to 11 day) and $200. 

And again, one port change will not make X, RC. There are just not massive overhauls of the ships happening in the way that would require.  

[dreamer321]

The only way I'd be interested in Coco Cay is if they added a truly adults-only section that allowed European style sunbathing or a C/O section (with adequate privacy from the family section), otherwise a hard pass.

[mrgabriel]

1 hour ago, D C said:

And I live in Michigan where we have snow or brown for nearly 6 months of the year. 

 

A beach is one of the 9 circles of hell in my book. Few places where I would rather NOT be stuck for a day of my cruise. 

Great to hear! More space for me and my friends!

[NMTraveller]

4 hours ago, markeb said:

 

Please report back after you actually cruise.

You are 100% correct.  I have never cruised on a cruise shorter than 7 days nor do I plan to.  My next Celebrity cruise is only 14 days...

[NMTraveller]

4 hours ago, markeb said:

They are. We’re old. 

There are biological facts.  The Mom with the 3 year old swimming in the baby pool is not 50 years old 🙂

 

There are two items:

 

1.  Marketing towards the previous Celebrity demographic. (Replacing 40s to 50s with a new 40 to 50s)

2.  Replacing the Celebrity demographic with the Royal demographic. Much less than the demographic age on Celebrity.

 

Number two is where Celebrity is headed...

Putting a younger Royal demographic on Celebrity ships.

Edited June 30, 2023 by NMTraveller