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I Test If What Cruisers Say About CELEBRITY CRUISES Is True
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Jan 28, 2025
Cruisers are increasingly confused about Celebrity Cruises. After being asked I take a looks at what Celebrity Cruises is up to and doing well and not so well drawing 3 recent cruising vacations across different of their ship types - with very different experiences JOIN MY CHANNEL TO GET ACCESS TO EXCLUSIVE PERKS: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Links mentioned in the videos: BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTS ———————————————— * Check out my T-Shirt range: http://bit.ly/TFTStore SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ————————————————————— * Become a Channel Member and get perks: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join * Become a Patron on Patreon and get perks: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * Make a donation: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=V9STJGYSEMGLJ * Buy my book “Cruise Traveler’s Handbook: USA Amazon https://amzn.to/2YVFmG4 and https://amzn.to/3tzIxBn UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3oXbzYc and https://amzn.to/3qawqIQ
View Video Transcript
0:00
I've just received two very different P
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for help about celebrity Cruisers one
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from a 60-some couple who've Cru
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celebrity often in the past but are now
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worried that the line is too modern
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youthful and they really will not feel
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welcome and then another from a younger
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couple they want to celebrate their
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joint 30th birthday on Celebrity but
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they're worrying it'll be too stuffy
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they won't have much fun and it's not
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for them so before applying to these two
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conflict perspectives I spent some time
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reflecting on my firsthand experiences
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on my recent celebrity trips and here's
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what I realized welcome aboard I'm Gary
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brenridge so what exactly are celebrity
0:42
up to and what are they doing well right
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now then we look at what they're doing
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less
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well although what they're doing risks
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absolutely driving traditional Celebrity
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Cruises away like that first couple they
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are pushing the experience more up
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Market making it more luxurious and
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they're shifting out of the category
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that they currently operate in so
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they're currently in what's known as the
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premium category along with cruise lines
1:10
like princess piano cruises UK Holland
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America Cod and new virgin voyages then
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above that there's the small ship luxury
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Cruise category which includes lines
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like Viking Oceania wiar and Azamara so
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previously if I wanted a more luxurious
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experience I had to go on those small
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MERS ship lines but celebrity is
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starting to push away from the
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traditional premium cruise lines like
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princess that they compete with to be
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more like the luxury smaller ship
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experience they're trying to be less
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stuffy more contemporary and much more
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modern they're doing six things that
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mean they are achieving this in my view
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first of all the ships are changing and
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the most dramatic example is with the
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Edge class ships which are very
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different in every way to the others
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that they have in their fleets at the
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moment secondly across the fleet they're
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introducing new Decor they're working
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with designers like Kelly hoppen to make
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it plusher and more contemporary across
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their existing Fleet the third thing
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they're doing is pushing service I think
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of all of their current premium line
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competition celebrity does have Superior
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Service what's interesting as I'll talk
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about later is they also done that at
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the same time when they've scrapped
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add-on gratuities on most of the fairs
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fourth they've elevated the food it's
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more stylish it's presented in a more
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artistic way and the quality and range
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of items on the menu has been elevated
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to what I usually expect on those luxury
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lines I was talking about the fifth
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thing they've done to shift to the more
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luxury side is with more all-inclusive
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fairs which includes things like drinks
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package Wi-Fi and gratuities this did
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mean though that their prices have
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increased then they're also at the same
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time making it more familyfriendly
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they're now offering families an
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opportunity to have a much more luxury
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Cruise experience without the cost of
3:13
going on those smaller ship lines
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they're doing things like increasing the
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size of the kids clubs the amount of
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kids club activities now many of these
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changes could though I feel be
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alienating for that traditional
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celebrity traveler couple but I think
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what they're doing well though is making
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the line look and feel more ATM
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market for both of those couples who
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asked for my advice I also told them
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celebrity have further upped the whole
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sense of luxury by focusing on the sweet
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experience they've repackaged it renamed
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it and it's now called The Retreat it's
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very much drawing on the luxury ship
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within a ship concept such as Norwegian
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Cruise Lines The Haven and the yacht
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club that is on MC cruises they now have
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some of the biggest and the most costly
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sweets at Sea they're glitzier they're
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more contemporary there is the iconic
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sweets for example a massive space on
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the Edge class ships above the bridge
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they have Edge Villas On The Edge class
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as well two level apartment star Suites
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then they have smaller Suite options as
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well so I stayed on my last trip in a
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sky Suite which is the entry-level Suite
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to be honest with you it's not really
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sweet it's basically a large cabin but
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on my previous cruise I stayed in the
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celebrity Suite on celebrity silhouette
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which did have a separate bedroom and so
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it was kind of more of a real Suite but
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what did I actually get for my money in
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The Retreat I got a butler and to dine
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in the Lum restaurant which is
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outstanding now while it doesn't perhaps
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have the depth of the menu and the
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ability to order off menu like in kunard
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Queen's Grill the food is fantastic it
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looks amazing and the service was
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absolutely exceptional I also got to go
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into the retreat Lounge with daily
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nibbles afternoon tea and conci ases
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there was a beautiful Deck with a bar
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food pool and hot tubs and of course
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also priority boarding tenders and
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disembarkation I think overall they have
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the best premium overall sweet offer of
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any of the premium lines including
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kunard because although kunard Queen's
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grill food beats them the overall
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Retreat experience is better so if that
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is important to either couple then I
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said they should absolutely consider
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celebrity this brings me to the next
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thing that I think they're doing really
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well and it's that they're revolving and
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giving Cruisers two clear options which
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is where both these concerned Travelers
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may actually find I have the answer for
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them celebrity has three classes of
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ships Millennium class which includes
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celebrity Millennium with 2,218 guests
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then there are Solstice class ships like
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Celebrity Solstice which has 2850 guests
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guests then there's the Edge class ships
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where Edge and Apex have 2,98 passengers
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although the new Beyond and Ascent have
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an extra deck and carry
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3,260 guests this now means there are
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two very different approaches and sets
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of ships the Millennium and soltice
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class ships are classic traditional
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cruise ships that look and will feel
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very familiar to my and for my
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traditional cruises in terms of the
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exterior internal layout the venues and
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the facil fa ities on these celebrities
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still have a traditional and classic
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Cruise program similar to the other
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premium lines but with a more
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contemporary twist and the events tend
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to be more high energy trendier and
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definitely run later into the night then
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there is a very different approach which
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is Edge class this is very different in
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almost every way from the outside it
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looks different there is the magic
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carpet down one side which operates as a
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bar and restaurant and doubl up as a
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platform for tendering they have
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infinite balconies where they've
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scrapped totally scrapped the
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traditional balcony and it said have a
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sliding glass panel with seating inside
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the cabin this has changed the whole
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exterior look of the ship the venues are
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also very different to the solstice and
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Millennium class ships the main dining
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room has gone it's been replaced by four
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Standalone restaurants that guests can
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rotate between celebrity Central has
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been replaced by the club a two-level
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venue where they hold high energy
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activities the lawn club's been scrapped
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and now there is the rooftop Terrace all
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the special ed restaurants have also
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been replaced for example on Solstice
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there's sushan 5 Tuscan Grill Morano and
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silk Harvest but on edge you have fine
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cut Steakhouse lran Bistro Leti chef and
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ran five the Production shows are more
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ambitious with Hightech screens there's
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more avanguard shows in the club even
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things like the 80s quiz on edge was
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high energy crazy with air guitar dance
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offs and so on so back to those two sets
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of people who asked me for advice for
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the 30-year-olds asking for advice about
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celebrity I suggested they try Edge but
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for the 6-year-olds who are used to
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traditional cruising I steered them more
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towards the Millennium and solers class
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ship
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but I told both of them before they went
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ahead they needed to know what celebrity
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are doing less well right now so let's
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talk about
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that first of all which is the flip side
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of everything that I've spoken about so
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far is they are becoming a more costly
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option the downside of going more up
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market and more luxurious of course is
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the cost they're actually starting to
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narrow the Gap in price by leaping up
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from the Fe on other premium class line
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like col America or princess and they're
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actually moving closer to those for
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smaller ship lines like Oceania and
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Viking now they announced originally
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that always included would be their only
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fair so they built a cost increase in
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their fairs when they moved to that
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because they included gratuities WiFi
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and drinks package though they do seem
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to have quietly reversed that and they
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also are for now Cruis on fairs
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certainly at the time of
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recording the always included Fair does
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add unwanted EXT to cost for some like
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me I don't drink alcohol for example and
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I wouldn't normally buy a drinks package
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but now I'm having to take the cost of
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that particular aspect but on the flip
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side of that if you are a keen Drinker
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and you prefer premium Brands always
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included only offers the standard drinks
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package so I met many people on my last
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cruise that had felt they need to
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upgrade to the more premium package the
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Wi-Fi included is standard but I had to
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pay to go premium to get the streaming
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quality I needed and it's wasn't that
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good so although that Wi-Fi is going to
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probably change because they're
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switching to Elon musk's starlink it
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still meant that despite it theor being
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included I had to pay extra always
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included by the way includes gratuities
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and that was a big plus because I found
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that the crew were not angling for more
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tips in fact I still tip my butler and
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cabin stud and they genuinely seem
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surprised but I did notice a real change
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in how the crew seemed to be being
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incentivized it seems to be based very
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much on guests ratings and I think that
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could actually be driving the big
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service improvement for example in the
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lumai restaurant my waiter made a point
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of saying please fill out the survey
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talk about the overall experience talk
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about the service if you feel like
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naming me that would be great
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too the second key thing I think they're
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doing less well is being consistent as
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they evolve so while making a lot of
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being more contemporary being more
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youthful for example all the guest
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artists that were on board were the same
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faces and the same acts that I see
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across all the other classic premium
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lines many still singing Beatles Frankie
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Valley and other songs that even I see
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as my mom's era and she's in her 80s but
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they're not playing contemporary sets
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and music even for me let alone for
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younger guests the live music around the
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ship was also I felt a little bit dated
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and would lean heavily into ABA The
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Beatles and so on which is fine however
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it's not modern and my view it's not
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contemporary next considering they want
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more families to cruise celebrity
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talking to parents they said the kids
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club and program were fine but not yet
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as good as the more family lines and
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there were certainly no real family
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focused excursions that I could see on
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offer the next area where they are
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definitely falling behind in my view is
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solo travel now it's improved because
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they've introduced some solo cabins on
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the Edge class but
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there's only 16 there are only four
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solar cabins as far as I could find out
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on Silhouette and none on the others so
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in terms of solar travel it's not a
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great experience on Celebrity because
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you won't find them often offering solar
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fairs either I have paid the same as a
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couple on my last three celebrity trips
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even though I've been going solo now
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based on all of that both groups of
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people who contacted me were actually
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happy with my recommendation but if is
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not for you watch this video about
12:31
another premium line where I look at
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things that people believe about them
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that I think are wrong starting with if
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it's stuffy and boring see you over
12:39
there
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