Evertything we know about Journey & Quest

[Charles4515]

Charles4515,

 

 

 

Yes, bu the type of restaurant does justify the price. Celebrity's specialty restaurants are REALLY upscale, with fully synchronized service and many tableside preparations.

 

They do, but not in the specialty restaurant!

 

Norm.

 

We don't know yet if they willl have the waffle stations.

I love those waffles :)

 

The discussion on price of the specialty restaurants is in the context of the appearence that Celebrity is trying to compete with Oceania with these two ships. It appears they are copying the open seating and the dress code but not the specialty restaurants having no extra fee. On the other hand they include a butler which is something I don't think I need but we shall see. Sometime when you actually experiance something you change your mind.

 

I really hope they copy the Oceania very limited smoking policy.

[Jancruz]

Since I have been on Oceania so many times..I am looking forward to my 9/1 Journey cruise with my daughters..so I can do the comparison for this board and the Oceania board..it should certainly be interesting!!

Jan

*****

[tak2]

Really looking forward to your report.

Wish it's sooner, so we can decide whether to consider Journwet class, but then it's unfair to grade a ship in it's early sailings when every staff has to get accustomed to the layout and working with new team members.

Always enjoyed reading your posts.

[JORAY]

The South America 2008 cruise prices are out and they are definitely less expensive then Oceania. I too was originally unhappy about the extra cost of the specialty restaurant. But then I thought this gives people options. If they want to watch their budget closer they can avoid using the specialty restaurants. If not, the cruise price won't really be more than Oceania's.

 

I agree -- I also looked at the other Celebrity Ship (M-Class) in the area and found the prices well in line per day (For an Antarctic 18 day cruise)

 

One reson for the service charge of $30 (GRATUITIES!) is I hope they will continue the outstanding service without this charge it could be hard to get in!

 

Ray

[susiesan]

If Celebrity is going to copy Oceania why don't they go all the way and make the specialty restaurants price inclusive but reservations only? What market advatage does Celebrity gain from this approach other than stemming Celebrity pax defections to Oceania (which may be the purpose)?

 

The market advantage is a much lower price for almost the same experience.

Having sailed on Oceania for the first time this past summer and enjoying it immensely in spite of the high price. I was elated to see Celebrity take on 2 of the R ships. I had chosen Oceania for the ships themselves having sailed them twice under Renaissance. I was all set to take another Oceania cruise when these 2 ships were announced, so I compared similair itineraries between them both. Doing the trip on Celebrity's ships versus Oceania's is $100 a day less in the inside cabins that I always book. So I reserved for the March 1 '08 Journey Panama Canal cruise. If reports are coming in over the next year that it's lousy I'll cancel and find a cruise to take on Oceania or maybe the Royal Princess so as to cruise on my favorite ships.

[Charles4515]

I called Celebrity and got a different answer. It was the assistant stateroom attendant who has been replaced. So now we evidently get a Butler and the Main Stateroom attendant in every stareroom. They said that the bulter performs all the "butler duties delivered on the other Celebrity ships, with the one exception being that packing/unpacking is a service offered only to suite guests on Journey and Quest." Sounds like an upgrade to the regular stateroom/asst. attendant to me!

 

What is this butler going to do all day? I am really having a hard time thinking of things to keep my butler occupied.

[Windrunner I]

Susiesan made an interesting statement. She is going on Journey so she can cruise on her favorite ship(s) at a lower price point.

 

Having cruised both X and O, I would advise that if you're going to sail these ships expecting an O-esque experience at a lower price point, wade in cautiously. I think it was the CC editor who made the very astute observation that while X can try and copy the product, they can't copy the service ethic. I would tend to agree.

 

X's food is very good - can they do better on the small ships? Possibly!

 

X's current ships are lovely - can they tart these ships up nicely? I have no doubt.

 

X's new beds are sublime. Did they copy O's? You betcha!

 

O's itineraries are exceptional - has Celebrity dones an excellent job in copying their Caribbean and South America itineraries? Very much so.

 

O's service is IMO, the warmest and friendliest in the industry. Can X copy that? No way!

 

O's dining experience (not just the food, but the TOTAL experience) is top of the heap. Can X copy that? Nope. They're just too rigid an organization.

 

That being said, I'm anxious to experience the new X Expeditions product. And while it is priced lower than O now, if the ships fill, they'll certainly raise the fares very quickly.

 

Also, if they are to deliver a BETTER product than O, which what they claim they will do, positioning their ships well ABOVE O, they'll have to raise the prices to Os' level or higher in order to maintain that level of quality and still make money.

 

X versus O - comparing apples to oranges? Possibly and possibly not. In the end, it's all still fruit. But you pay more money for better quality fruit!

[tak2]

 

 

X versus O - comparing apples to oranges? Possibly and possibly not. In the end, it's all still fruit. But you pay more money for better quality fruit!

 

Very well said!

I expect to pay accordingly for higher quality, it's only fair.

Competition will keep O on their toes, which in the end benefits us. Journey class also gives us more choices as O is getting difficult to book if one doesn't move fast enough.

It's all good.:)

[sarecca4]

Hello everyone.. My wife and I are new to this board... We have a question about the AQUA SPA facility on the Journey... does anyone know if the spa will have men and womens steam room and sauna? Thanks so much

[JORAY]

Hello everyone.. My wife and I are new to this board... We have a question about the AQUA SPA facility on the Journey... does anyone know if the spa will have men and womens steam room and sauna? Thanks so much

 

Since the ships are new to Celebrity and are being refited now, none of us have been on the new "Celebrity Journey" so we don't know until it sails.

 

Ray

[Jancruz]

Hello everyone.. My wife and I are new to this board... We have a question about the AQUA SPA facility on the Journey... does anyone know if the spa will have men and womens steam room and sauna? Thanks so much

 

The spa is beautiful and very functional..and there are separate mens and womens steam rooms and saunas..

Jan

*****

[susiesan]

Having experienced both O, X, and R I am wading in cautiously. I've also experienced Xpedition and am hoping these new X ships will come close to that cruise experience, which after 35 cruises was the absolute best cruise I have ever been on. I will agree that the food on O was the best I've had, but if X can serve very good food and provide very good service at $1000 less, I'll be happy. Food is not my number one reason for choosing a cruise-interesting ports, the size of the ship, and value for cost per day are my important criteria. Maybe I've been lucky over all of the cruises I've been on that I've not had a horrible experience, service wise. And only one cruisee many years ago with inedible food (Carnival) Maybe I'm just easy to please when I'm on vacation. Although I am sailing on Pride of America in April which may end my lucky streak (from what I read on the NCL board)!

[Rev22:17]

Ray,

 

Hello everyone.. My wife and I are new to this board... We have a question about the AQUA SPA facility on the Journey... does anyone know if the spa will have men and womens steam room and sauna? Thanks so much

 

The deck plans for MV Celebrity Journey (nee MV R6) and MV Celebrity Quest (nee MV R7) on Celebrity's web site and in Celebrity's brochures are pretty poor, with missing labels and details for most public spaces. AFAIK, Celebrity is not doing a major reconfiguration of the spa area, so the deck plan forcorresponding area of identical sister MV Royal Princess (nee MV R8 should be a fairly good indication. I see separate men's and women's changing rooms and steam rooms, but I don't see any rooms labelled as saunas.

 

Norm.

[1cruiselvr]

X's deck plans for Quest also are missing the laundry room on deck 7. I wonder if they are going to take that out or just didn't include it in their drawing for some reason. I hope they keep it. I don't care what they charge, it's just nice to be able to bring less and wash when appropriate. Happy Sailing!