Rare mahdnc Posted September 11, 2023 #426 Share Posted September 11, 2023 (edited) 16 minutes ago, goofysmom99 said: Huh? There is no spoon. Edited September 11, 2023 by mahdnc 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spif Barwunkel Posted September 11, 2023 #427 Share Posted September 11, 2023 26 minutes ago, goofysmom99 said: Huh? My point, exactly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spif Barwunkel Posted September 11, 2023 #428 Share Posted September 11, 2023 13 minutes ago, mahdnc said: There is no spoon. And yet, here we are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Traveling Fools Posted September 11, 2023 #429 Share Posted September 11, 2023 Elite+...Not locked into X or any other cruise line. Itinerary, timing and cabin availability are the guiding lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare NMTraveller Posted September 11, 2023 #430 Share Posted September 11, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, Spif Barwunkel said: TThink about it, you could be responsible for Celebrity's shortcomings. We are not innocent in this blame game and no matter your cruising status some folks somewhere have a hand or two in the current events. I seriously doubt this but you are certainly welcome to your opinion. The "somewhere" folks are at corporate... They are trying to fill the nonexistent spoon so that their shareholders will be happy and their cruisers will not. Edited September 11, 2023 by NMTraveller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare bjahil47 Posted September 11, 2023 #431 Share Posted September 11, 2023 6 hours ago, goofysmom99 said: I'm stuck with upcoming Nov cruise (dreading MDR food for 16 nights) which was booked solely to use up $1000 FCC that'd been hanging around for two years. In 2024, four cruises booked on X = two (Feb/Mar) are set in stone, one in Apr could go either way (only $100 deposit and air is with miles), and a really iffy one in Nov. If I take the Apr cruise, it will determine if Nov is worth the money and/or effort. I probably should book something else for Nov (refundable) as a spare. For 2025, Celebrity is out and I've booked one Regent and have another on hold today. Meanwhile, continuing to research HAL, Cunard, Azamara, Oceania, Explora Journeys, Seabourn, and Crystal for more 2025 options. One of my primary considerations is whether a line can handle a gluten-free room service hot breakfast. X still does that pretty well and it's what made Princess a no-go. I did like an earlier poster's suggestion to just let X cruises with $100/$200 deposits lapse rather than cancel....if I decide against Apr and/or Nov cruises, I plan to do exactly that (but will let my TA know). Just curious, we are looking at other cruise lines and Princess was one of them. I am gluten free. Does Princess not have gf options? I am also looking at MSC YC, but heard all gf food comes from main dining room, so why pay for YC if you can’t eat their food? What do you think Celebrity does good for gf room service breakfast? I usually get smoked salmon and I bring my own bagels from home. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Ken the cruiser Posted September 11, 2023 #432 Share Posted September 11, 2023 5 minutes ago, bjahil47 said: Just curious, we are looking at other cruise lines and Princess was one of them. I am gluten free. Does Princess not have gf options? We were just on the Diamond for 17 days cruising around Japan and my DW was able to always get GF items. You just need to talk with your servers. BTW their GF French toast was awesome! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare NMTraveller Posted September 11, 2023 #433 Share Posted September 11, 2023 19 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said: We were just on the Diamond for 17 days cruising around Japan and my DW was able to always get GF items. You just need to talk with your servers. BTW their GF French toast was awesome! How did you like the Diamond. We are looking at something similar for 2025. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goofysmom99 Posted September 11, 2023 #434 Share Posted September 11, 2023 20 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said: We were just on the Diamond for 17 days cruising around Japan and my DW was able to always get GF items. You just need to talk with your servers. BTW their GF French toast was awesome! For room service breakfast? Eggs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Cruise till you drop Posted September 11, 2023 #435 Share Posted September 11, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, RichYak said: I fell asleep after first few words. Interminable lectures have that effect on me. 😂 Yet you liked posts 254 & 316 which was just as long and a lecture. Interesting Edited September 11, 2023 by Cruise till you drop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spif Barwunkel Posted September 11, 2023 #436 Share Posted September 11, 2023 (edited) 11 hours ago, RichYak said: I fell asleep after first few words. Interminable lectures have that effect on me. 😂 Once upon a time there was a little boy who loved boats, all kinds of boats. He loved boats so much that he played with them in the bathtub, in the street puddles after a heavy rain and in his neighbor's bird bath. At a very early age he vowed to one day become a boat passenger.......that should do it. Edited September 11, 2023 by Spif Barwunkel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Georgia_Peaches Posted September 11, 2023 #437 Share Posted September 11, 2023 13 hours ago, terrydtx said: We leave tomorrow morning from San Antonio to fly to Houston and then Amsterdam to get on the Apex Thursday. Safe travels! Looking forward to reading about your cruise. Bon Voyage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeRick Posted September 11, 2023 #438 Share Posted September 11, 2023 (edited) 21 hours ago, Keys Kathy said: 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. Short answer: We are E+ and D+. Very far away from Zenith and from Pinnacle. Actively Looking elsewhere. No other Celebrity cruise booked. More detailed answer: Our last Celebrity cruise was on Equinox earlier this year in a CS. It was fine except it was during the unannounced Oceanview Buffet dinner cutbacks. That did not really affect us but it bothered us to be truthful. We used the last of our FCC on that cruise. We did not book another at that time because of some medical issues and timing of procedures was uncertain. Not because of issues with Celebrity. We have no future Celebrity or RCCL cruises booked. And will not book them at this point. Actively researching Silversea, Regent, and MSC YC. Maybe Princess. Our criteria for choosing is based upon value/inclusions for the price (for suites), acceptable itinerary, and timing. We have also realized the value in land-based vacations and frankly that is what we have been doing. Edited September 11, 2023 by TeeRick 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeRick Posted September 11, 2023 #439 Share Posted September 11, 2023 21 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said: Even though I’m a big Celebrity fan, I agree that this could back to haunt them. I worked for a major automobile manufacturer (T) and although we loved conquest sails, we also made sure we built brand loyalty so people would even dream of buying another product. We would have never put a bean counter in charge. It was usually someone from sales or engineering as the focus was on the product first. You get the product right and the bottom line will take care of itself I’m sure they are trying new things to gain new and younger passengers but if it comes at the price of driving away your loyal cruisers, that’s not a good move from a long term stability point of view Except long-term stability is not their issue right now. For RCG corporation, it is short term stability and debt reduction. And stock price. Quarter by quarter. Total bean counter approach. Survival. Evolution of the brand and business approach. They will get back to long-term stability perhaps at some point. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Cruise till you drop Posted September 11, 2023 #440 Share Posted September 11, 2023 1 minute ago, TeeRick said: Except long-term stability is not their issue right now. For RCG corporation, it is short term stability and debt reduction. And stock price. Quarter by quarter. Total bean counter approach. Survival. Evolution of the brand and business approach. They will get back to long-term stability perhaps at some point. Thanks for taking an approach from the Chapter 11 playbook Agree to disagree 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeRick Posted September 11, 2023 #441 Share Posted September 11, 2023 Just now, Cruise till you drop said: Thanks for taking an approach from the Chapter 11 playbook Agree to disagree No problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichYak Posted September 11, 2023 #442 Share Posted September 11, 2023 7 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said: Yet you liked posts 254 & 316 which was just as long and a lecture. Interesting I went back and skimmed those posts. They were both long but not interminable. There is a difference. Also, I don't think either was a lecture. Neither admonished it's readers. Anyway, thanks for stalking, then stalking again to find a second long post I liked. Creepy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Ken the cruiser Posted September 11, 2023 #443 Share Posted September 11, 2023 9 hours ago, NMTraveller said: How did you like the Diamond. We are looking at something similar for 2025. The best way to see how much we enjoyed it is to look at the pictures in my below Live From thread in my signature. But the bottom line is we had a great time! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Ken the cruiser Posted September 11, 2023 #444 Share Posted September 11, 2023 9 hours ago, goofysmom99 said: For room service breakfast? Eggs? Unfortunately, I have no idea as we have never used room service. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare terrydtx Posted September 11, 2023 #445 Share Posted September 11, 2023 53 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said: Safe travels! Looking forward to reading about your cruise. Bon Voyage! Thank you, we are at the airport to begin our journey. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim_Iain Posted September 11, 2023 #446 Share Posted September 11, 2023 15 hours ago, terrydtx said: We leave tomorrow morning from San Antonio to fly to Houston and then Amsterdam to get on the Apex Thursday. I am not sure if I will do a live report or just a thread about my experience with the new butler team. We are traveling with a group of friends and may not have the time to do a live thread, so I may just do the report on the butler teams and other SS changes. If I do a summary I could do it after we get off the Apex and go to Santorini for 5 days. Terry - Have a great vacation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goofysmom99 Posted September 11, 2023 #447 Share Posted September 11, 2023 11 hours ago, bjahil47 said: Just curious, we are looking at other cruise lines and Princess was one of them. I am gluten free. Does Princess not have gf options? I am also looking at MSC YC, but heard all gf food comes from main dining room, so why pay for YC if you can’t eat their food? What do you think Celebrity does good for gf room service breakfast? I usually get smoked salmon and I bring my own bagels from home. Thanks! Every cruise line handles GF well in their dining rooms, giving you a menu the night before. Enjoying a hot breakfast in my cabin is something I look forward to when I cruise. One of the things X does very well (and I don't) is poached eggs. I can write-in two slices of GF toast, poached eggs (write-in to not put them onto the toast), a breakfast meat, and ask for hollandaise on the side. Then I assemble my jury-rigged version of GF eggs benedict for breakfast on my balcony. While I don't do that every day, I do order something hot every morning. It's my cruise indulgence. Being able to have GF hot breakfast from room service will make/break my cruise line choice. Although I'm not charged for this on X, even if I were, I'd still order it. And that, among other things, is what I'm busy researching on other cruise lines. (Not available on Princess.) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mac_tlc Posted September 11, 2023 #448 Share Posted September 11, 2023 1 hour ago, terrydtx said: Thank you, we are at the airport to begin our journey. Have a great time, looking forward to your comments. mac_tlc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDPCruisers Posted September 11, 2023 #449 Share Posted September 11, 2023 Have been looking around at other lines, Oceania, Silversea, Regent, etc., but just booked Beyond SS for next April. So, no other line, yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bootstrap77 Posted September 11, 2023 #450 Share Posted September 11, 2023 Apologies - this is a long one. 🙂 my intention is not to offend just to offer my opinion. We are leaving Celebrity after 14 years of sailing exclusively with them. This is based solely on my preferences as a cruiser, what I have experienced with celebrity in the past and what I want in a vacation going forward. I would encourage you to read other reviews on lines and make your own informed decisions. We chose celebrity initially as it was a reasonable price point for our family income and offered a mainly adult population, with a quiet subdued atmosphere, good varied food, music and beverage experiences that were what I wanted in a vacation. Spa music was heard throughout the ship, live string musicians scattered at various locations, wine offerings from parts of the world I couldn’t find in my local LB, and an overall more quiet less rowdy party atmosphere. Our last sailing with them was a Sept Alaska cruise in Aqua Class- quite a few children that were crying or having tantrums with disengaged parents, dried out food dishes and undercooked meats, weak specialty coffees, loud top 40 music playing throughout the ship. We are looking at Oceaniana, and Azamara. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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