New Penthouse and Royal Suite Perks beginning January 2016

Sorry Jenna but I don't think CSs get the mini bar perk as well :(though it would be nice

Oh, yes, you're right, no minibar in CS, I started with initials and kept going.

Happy sailing,

Jenna

I'll send you her email :)

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

Thanks Jenna

See you and Dee on Saturday.

Anita

There is often a suites only line with a little bit of red (or green) carpet to re board the ship at the pier. Sometimes this is also available at the pier for tenders. Whilst 9 times out of 10 this is of no real benefit on the odd occasion when there is a very long line it makes a huge difference

When we were returning to the Reflection from Fira on Santorini in July the prospect of an hours wait in line for a tender was pretty daunting. We had just negotiated about 500 steps down the cliff, dodging the donkey poop:eek:. With that length of the line to be standing with nothing more than a damp towel and fruit flavoured water in the heat was not our idea of fun. One of the crew recognized us and directed us to the bit of carpet at the front which we hadn't spotted in the distance. It was straight onto the tender and up to Michaels for a brandy and soda with in about 15 minutes of arriving at the tender pier:D

These are the little differences that make suites so sweet :)

Thank you all so far for the tips. Since we aren't experienced cruisers these are the things that will help us get our bearings easier. Will def look for the tender carpet (thanks Greg!), and be waiting for the email to get our first night dinner booked (thanks Jenna!)

What else? We have included gratuities but should we take care of our butler additionally? And when it says mini bar restocked- does that mean that we won't see charges for those items on our bill later? Just making certain as another poster pointed out- we do pay dearly for these perks!

Khris

Thank you all so far for the tips. Since we aren't experienced cruisers these are the things that will help us get our bearings easier. Will def look for the tender carpet (thanks Greg!), and be waiting for the email to get our first night dinner booked (thanks Jenna!)

 

What else? We have included gratuities but should we take care of our butler additionally? And when it says mini bar restocked- does that mean that we won't see charges for those items on our bill later? Just making certain as another poster pointed out- we do pay dearly for these perks!

 

Khris

We generally do tip the butler extra, only once we didn't as he didn't do much, and we actually asked for a replacement. We also generally tip our room stewards extra and sometimes the Michael's club servers/concierge though the concierge is an Officier so we've done other special things besides cash.

You will not see any charge for any drink, including your mini bar, except maybe wine, there has been debate about whether the little wine bottles they have in the minibar are included. We don't drink them so I don't know. You also would be charged if you have alcohol delivered to your room or you go over the $13 limit somewhere else onboard. We were specifically asked what we'd like stocked in our minibar in advance for our upcoming cruise, but this is the first time this has happened.

Happy sailing,

Jenna

We boarded the Eclipse today, here are changes as given to us by our butler.

There is no free use of bistro on unlimited package, even in port for lunch. We are in an RS. There is no free food in gastropub either in the unlimited dining package. They will include lunches in Murano and Tuscan when held.

The new Perrier-Jouet is provided.

The same white tubed shampoo and conditioner are here, no early upgrades for that.

We had several requests shoreside and they are beginning to work on them now.

Our last two cruises were on M class and this is our first stay with RS on S class, I had no idea there was no slider outside from the bedroom. :eek:

Going to have a great vacation b to b. And if anyone can clarify the bistro issue I would appreciate it. I am assuming it doesn't begin yet but they have already stopped lunch on port days and brunch. Also laundry, it's the same Elite coupons so no change there.

Michaels club was packed when we boarded. If it is going to be the place for boarding it needs to get bigger before SS join the party.

We were on Equinox April2015 as the Suite life rolled out. We had Bistro included but were told lunchtime Tuscan and Murano were not!

Let us know how you get on.

Going to have a great vacation b to b. And if anyone can clarify the bistro issue I would appreciate it. I am assuming it doesn't begin yet but they have already stopped lunch on port days and brunch.

See post #9 from Celebrity about Reflection on this link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=48193430

which states:

Beginning on 10/23/15, Reflection will only offer lunch on embarkation day and on sea days (versus every day). Breakfast and dinner will still be served every single day.

 

We constantly review our guest and travel partner feedback, which tells us that our guests and trade partners love Luminae. We also know that lunch in Luminae is most desired on embarkation day and days at sea, which led to this slight adjustment in lunch service.

 

If you would like to have lunch onboard while in port, several venues and services are available: Bistro on Five, Oceanview Cafe, room service etc. Bistro on Five is now complimentary, during lunch on port days, for our Suite Class guests

Complimentary on other ships maybe. I will follow up with concierge, just in case though.

...

 

2. You will be escorted to a tender from Michaels Club whenever you are ready to get off. You meet the concierge there and they walk you to a tender, with the excursions by Celebrity who have priority or just after....

This has been reported by some, but as far as I can tell isn't the "official" procedure (at least not yet).

We have sailed in RS several times, and just got back from an equinox cruise in a RS. We've never been contacted prior to the cruise.

Also the in room dining is supposedly limited to items from the MDR...

We found Tuscan to be our favorite and Murano a close second (we so loved the Normandy). Luminae not so much.

Yes to # 1. You may get an email a week before cruise from mc concierge. Respond within any requests, like Tuscan reservations night 1.

MC was busy when we boarded Summit in September but after that it was pretty quiet, except for the evening when the Officers attended.

We boarded the Eclipse today, here are changes as given to us by our butler.

 

There is no free use of bistro on unlimited package, even in port for lunch. We are in an RS. There is no free food in gastropub either in the unlimited dining package. They will include lunches in Murano and Tuscan when held.

 

.....

Our last two cruises were on M class and this is our first stay with RS on S class, I had no idea there was no slider outside from the bedroom. :eek:

....

Michaels club was packed when we boarded. If it is going to be the place for boarding it needs to get bigger before SS join the party.

Hi - we are just back from Nov 9 on Equinox in a RS;

We ate in bistro once for lunch; it was comp'd as part of our being in a RS.

We also miss the slider from the bedroom; would rather lose the "hot" tub on the balcony.

Upon arriving at the pier my wife was given a rose to mark us as "vips" to be escorted to Michaels upon boarding (we were early and had to wait); Upon boarding the ship there was no notice of the rose, and we asked for directions to Michael's and found our own way there..

We never found Michael's to be overly crowded, and having the constantly replenished fridges (our RS had a small fridge and a wine fridge) (which we used to hold the beer and sodas) was wonderful. Though we agree that when the SS have access to Michael's it wont be nearly large enough.

-jim

No rose today either, I do recall one last year on the Summit. We were told to hold a blue folder up so we could be identified.

We ate at Tuscan tonight, we were told it was the second new menu with old and new items. It was good, but we both remembered the first time we ate at Tuscan several years ago and how outstanding it was.

It's been a good day, we gave a copy of the bistro post to the concierge and this is news to everyone on the ship. A thank you beamafar for getting it posted for me so quickly. :)

We did not have any tender escorts last year in the RS, not sure it's that important to me as long as we can get off in a timely manner.

I do hope on the new ships they put a slider by th bedroom again, I am a bit shocked it is this way and also suprised I never knew this before.

Sail from pier 91. I will also be in RS in July 2016.

July 22nd here... you?

So is we are in RS during the new year, til 1/3 will the new benefits apply?

July 22nd here... you?

July 15-22

There is no free use of bistro on unlimited package, even in port for lunch. We are in an RS. There is no free food in gastropub either in the unlimited dining package. They will include lunches in Murano and Tuscan when held.

On Millennium April/May this year when the old "new" suite perks had just kicked in, we were initially charged for Bistro on Five. We queried it with the MS concierge because, having previously had the Ultimate Dining Package [and often experiencing staff not being aware it was included], we expected Bistro on Five to be included. He had to checked with Miami but it was included as part of the PH/RS package and we were refunded.

There was no issue whatsoever with the lunches in the specialty restaurants.

My understanding has always been that the Gastrobar food was NOT included in the Ultimate Dining Package nor for PH/RS guests.

Complimentary on other ships maybe. I will follow up with concierge, just in case though.

Bistro was complementary on Eclipse in October. We went there first day.

Bistro was complementary on Eclipse in October. We went there first day.

That's what really annoys me about Celebrity these days. They don't say sorry we got it wrong they tell Hulamoon they've never heard of the comping of Bistro on 5 which might make a guest feel guilty for raising it.

There are too many "lies" told onboard these days. We had to deal with several on Infinity and on Reflection. In the latter case it was the butler who was such a chancer we asked to have a different one on the second leg of the b2b.

There is often a suites only line with a little bit of red (or green) carpet to re board the ship at the pier. Sometimes this is also available at the pier for tenders. Whilst 9 times out of 10 this is of no real benefit on the odd occasion when there is a very long line it makes a huge difference

 

When we were returning to the Reflection from Fira on Santorini in July the prospect of an hours wait in line for a tender was pretty daunting. We had just negotiated about 500 steps down the cliff, dodging the donkey poop:eek:. With that length of the line to be standing with nothing more than a damp towel and fruit flavoured water in the heat was not our idea of fun. One of the crew recognized us and directed us to the bit of carpet at the front which we hadn't spotted in the distance. It was straight onto the tender and up to Michaels for a brandy and soda with in about 15 minutes of arriving at the tender pier:D

 

These are the little differences that make suites so sweet :)

We have had top level suites several times now, and this has to be one of my biggest disappointments. Because of many ports and how lines form going to the ship, it is nearly impossible to get to where they put this "red carpet" for suites. We haven't even been able to get through gates/fences/checkpoints because the lines form and there is no way to cut the line.

I have know about this perk but it is one that we have yet to be able to use. It is a disappointment as we have waited in lines for hours (in total) over several cruises just to board the ship.

Celebrity needs to do a better job with the execution of this perk. They don't even mention it to you in Michaels or anything, so it is like they don't want you using it.

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Is the perk the ultimate dining package for RS and PH? But also Luminae guests are supposed to get Bistro during lunch on port days?

I assume clarity will prevail soon.

Is the perk the ultimate dining package for RS and PH? But also Luminae guests are supposed to get Bistro during lunch on port days?

 

I assume clarity will prevail soon.

The wording is "Unlimited dining in all specialty restaurants including lunch, dinner, and one Champagne High Tea". Bistro has been treated as a specialty restaurant as there is the $10 cover charge. As to SS and CS guests getting to use Bistro, there now seems to be a bit of doubt is the post by "Celebrity Cruises" is fully correct, but no doubt we will find out soon.

The posting regarding the Suite Class guests getting complimentary Bistro on Port days is on this page http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=48175277

Thank you, I forwarded copies. There is no reference to the ultimate dining package on their website presently. I think I recall it was sold onboard. The one for RS and PH is called unlimited.

Had three good hours with Internet, after a terrible evening with it. I also clarified the unlimited laundry takes effect in January.