OceanCruise

The Constellation is older and needs updating so I think you would be more satisfied on an Edge class ship or the Silhouette (which has been revolutionized). Our recent Silhouette cruise had more people in their 20's and 30's than I had ever seen on Celebrity (there were several wedding parties) and the music was definitely geared toward that demographic. There were at least 6 different trivia sessions daily. A Christmas cruise will definitely have more kids on board. If you want much better food and a more relaxed/refined experience, consider booking a suite on Celebrity. Also consider which ports are of interest to you.

Just off Silhouette in a Sky Suite. There was a card in our room listing the first name and title of Head Butler. However, we never saw the butler, not even in the Retreat lounge. Our room steward took care of our minor requests and handled our laundry. One day I did call the butler's number to have our laundry picked up to ensure it would be ready in time before the cruise ended and he answered the phone with "This is _______ your butler." He said he would take care of it but we had to call again several hours later. Laundry was finally picked up by an attendant about 5-6 hours after our original call.

Just back from a 4 night cruise in a corner aft Sunset Sky Suite on Silhouette. We are Elite Plus but had not sailed since Covid and were a bit nervous because of all the Celebrity cutbacks and negative comments here. I am happy to report that Celebrity exceeded our expectations and we had an amazing cruise. We booked two more cruises while onboard. Here are some of our thoughts: Pros: Embarkation at Port Everglades was seamless. We were immediately personally escorted to the suite departure lounge where there were sweets, a few appetizers and hot/cold beverages. We were on the ship by 11am. Ship was in great condition throughout and has been revolutionized. Our room was spotless with no significant wear and tear. We LOVED the corner aft as it was well designed and spacious. Room steward emptied mini bar upon our request, replenished waters daily without us asking, and handled our laundry. He seemed pretty busy and didn't have time for chit-chat but took good care of the stateroom so we were very satisfied. Luminae was outstanding and, interestingly, was always 3/4 empty when we ate there (at opening times for breakfast, lunch, dinner). We had filet mignon twice, rib eye, steak frites and these were all excellent, as was the Luminae burger. There were lots of fresh vegetables and berries available (sometimes on request). We had originally planned on booking a specialty restaurant but didn't because Luminae was really that good. We always had the same waiter and he was amazing and anticipated our needs. Maitre'd was always visible. Retreat lounge was never crowded. Concierges and bartenders provided great service. The food offerings (at set times) had a nice variety of cold small plates and were plentiful. Entertainment: We are generally not fans of the production shows and usually find them cheesy but we really enjoyed the production show "Life". Those performers were extremely talented. Comedian did two shows and was good. Lots and lots of trivia daily, art auctions, spa/wellness talks. Debarkation was seamless directly from Retreat lounge. We got our luggage and were in our car in the port garage by 8:10am. Cons: -No champagne when entering ship at embarkation -We never saw the Butler, not even in Retreat lounge. There was a card in the stateroom with his first name and Head Butler title. -No prizes at trivia so no "incentive" to team up and make friends with other passengers. -Food demonstrations have a charge now. -No appetizers or fruit left in room but we did get pillow chocolates nightly . We did not request any room service. -No lobster main course. Was told this was due to it being a short cruise. There was a tiny lobster appetizer one night that was the size of a pinky finger. -Loud rock music in Grand Foyer all evening. I would be annoyed if I had a room midship. Classical or pop instrumentals seemed to only be scheduled a couple of times throughout the cruise. -There was an R-rated game show one evening on the ship and it was truly vulgar. We are not prudes and enjoy a good laugh but we were surprised that Celebrity actually allowed this. A far cry from the Love and Marriage show which is pretty tame. The adult comedy show was kind of what we expected but, again, more over the top than other adult comedy shows we have seen on our previous cruises. It is obvious Celebrity is trying to appeal to a much younger demographic. -Could not get a drink in the theater as there was only one or two servers on the lower level and we were on the top level. I am happy to answer any questions.

Do the two-story Crown Loft Suites on Oasis of the Seas have an entrance to the corridor on the upper level or is there only suite entry on the lower level? How does the Suite lounge on Royal (Sky class) compare to the Retreat lounge on Celebrity in terms of food and beverage offerings? Is Coastal Kitchen as "good" as Luminae?

While onboard a Celebrity cruise, is the OBC perk the same if I want to book a specific Royal Caribbean cruise? How much of a deposit is needed for a Royal Caribbean suite and does it depend on which level of suite? I believe in the past the Retreat Concierge arranged for private appointments in the Retreat lounge to book a future cruise. Do they still do this?

Plus expend all that effort to turn on the faucet for a bath 🤣

When you factor in a mandatory 20% tip, this dinner will cost you over $300 for two. It can also be windy at times on the Magic Carpet. I have not eaten on the Magic Carpet but have eaten in a number of specialty restaurants across the Celebrity fleet. In my opinion, no food on Celebrity is special enough to be worth that much extra cost. Even the regular specialties are way overpriced now. If you have extra OBC to use up or don't care about the cost, you might enjoy it. Some people will spend that amount on a facial, massage, or casino whereas, others will not, so it is all relative.

Wow, that is unacceptable. Did you speak with the Hotel Director? What kinds of things did you ask the Head Butler to do that you could not get service for?

Given what Celebrity has been doing lately, maybe they are giving the Sky Suite room attendants new nametags that say Butler to replace the ones labeled Retreat Host🤪

You expressed so well how I feel too.

I am Elite Plus and was a huge Celebrity cheerleader. We had not looked elsewhere for the past 15 years or so. My realistic expectation for my two 2024 cruises was that I understood inflation and was willing to pay Sky Suite prices significantly higher than past cruises because I "knew" what I was going to get (before the recent changes). I will wait and see how my cruises are this year and decide at that time whether I will book again with Celebrity given the current price points. My philosophy has always been that no cruise is a bad cruise. However, I will say I do not have the usual excitement that I normally have in anticipation of sailing. Because of the gaslighting Celebrity did in saying the detrimental changes make for "an elevated experience", I have fully lost trust in Celebrity and am waiting for another shoe to drop that would continue to impact my upcoming sailings negatively and cost me more money. Rather than eagerly awaiting "luxury" and "not having to lift a finger" (Celebrity's words), it is hard to keep an open mind when I have legitimate concerns that an overworked room attendant (aka Retreat Host) might not clean my room adequately, that the food will be just ok, and only low-end wine is included for the exorbitant prices I am paying. What has Celebrity done recently to show they care about their customers? Have they added anything of value? All they had to do to soften the blow about butler removal would have been allowing cancellation without penalty or offering some gesture of goodwill. They could have grandfathered in those with a premium package to give an increased upper limit of $19. Instead, they made many of us feel taken advantage of and created a negative opinion of Celebrity which we never had before. What I may be open to in the future is to book veranda or Aqua class at a much more palatable price point, take full advantage of my loyalty perks, and no longer book Sky Suites.

Are they still providing slippers and tote bag?

I had no idea coffee drinks were available at these 2 places. Thank you!

For those of you who have sailed in Sky Suites recently, did you tip extra for room service now that a room service attendant is delivering the food instead of the butler who always did this in the past? Do you consider room service delivery part of the already included higher gratuities for the "Retreat team"? From reports on Cruise Critic it sounds as if the attendant is just dropping off food and not setting it up at all. Just curious as to what you all are doing regarding Sky Suites only.

Captain's Club lists free cappuccino, latte, and tea as a perk for Elite Plus. If we do not have a drink package, can we get these for free anytime at Cafe al Bacio and at meals in the restaurant? For those of you at this level, have you had any difficulty utilizing this perk or are there any limitations? Because of the cuts in service and perks, we are thinking about downgrading from our usual Sky Suite to balcony/AQ for possible future bookings but would definitely not want to purchase a drink package (the 2 free nightly Elite Plus drinks and an occasional self-pay beverage would be sufficient).

I will add my pet peeve: it is room steward, not stewart

My observation is that our March 2024 Silhouette cruise now has 6 Royal Suites available, several Celebrity Suites, 2 Horizon Suites and a lot of Sky Suites also available before next week's final payment date. In my experience, this is very different than past cruises we have been on where most or all of suites were typically sold out at this point.

On another thread I posted this Celebrity link I received in a Celebrity email regarding my upcoming Sky Suite reservation. It is a Celebrity blog (August 2023) that tells all the amazing services that the Sky Suite butler will do to pamper guests (that they actually used to do before the staffing change) but, according to reports on Cruise Critic, in reality isn't happening anymore https://www.celebritycruises.com/blog/cruise-butler

Also be aware an 18 or 20% gratuity is automatically added onto the bill. You can add extra if you feel the service warrants it. Also, a 75-minute massage is more like 60 minutes in my experience because they will leave you alone a bit longer than necessary while you dress/undress in the room.

So much for that "enhanced experience" Celebrity promised. The linked article posted in the original post (about all the many amazing things the Retreat butler will do for us) is truly false advertising that Celebrity is continuing to send to Sky Suite cruisers.

I thought Move Up offers were only available after final payment date. I got the offer before that so I was wondering if they changed the program. I also wanted to point out the ridiculousness of the move-up offer which would cost me more with the minimum bid than if I just booked that cruise new today on the website. It is a reminder that Move-Up isn't necessarily the bargain people may think it is.

I am Elite Plus sailing on Silhouette 4 nights March 21 in a Sunset Sky Suite. Final payment is January 6 but I paid off the balance last week. I just got an email with an outrageous move-up offer that would cost me more in the end than if I booked on the Celebrity website now. Move up offer minimum bids were $3000 pp for PH Suite, $2000 pp for Royal Suite, $1000 pp Horizon Suite and $500 pp for Celebrity Suite. Again, this is for only 4 nights and there are 6 Royal Suites available plus several of the others except PH. I thought Move-Up offers were only available after the standard final payment date. Have others experienced this?

No one is on it when they move it. It moved up and down only once or twice a day at random times when we had a Magic Carpet Suite.

What was the exact date Celebrity eliminated the dedicated Sky Suite Butlers? The blog article was written August 14, 2023 which I believe is somewhat close to that time so it is very disingenuous.

The email was not sent from a specific person and it just linked to the preferences survey. Although it contained my booking info, it just looked auto-generated and did not mention any contact info if I had further questions.