bertrande

We sailed in an RS on Connie in September and the food was excellent. We ate in Ocean Linners once and it was OK we also ate in Tuscan twice once being OK and the other time not so. On a number of occasions we lunched in Sushi on 5 and were very impressed.

 

For us the the big thing about sailing in suites has always been Michaels and this cruise did not disappoint with couple of little touches that really made us feel the suite class difference. Not to mention being invited to helipad sail aways three times on an 11 day cruise or a sea day bridge tour :)

We are in an RS (upgraded for a good price after Final Payment) on Connie in less than two months' time and were looking forward to dining often at OL, sorry to hear it was just ok. But your second paragraph excites me. Not so much Michael's Club as I do not drink but the "little touches". Cannot wait.

Just curious if that calculation took into account that if you book the kids in the adjoining cabin, you would only be booking 3 into the more expensive cabin. So instead of what you have now. 4 fares at suite fare and one person paying two inside fares (so 6 fares total) You would have 3 fares for one cabin and 2 fares for the other (5 fares total).

No - the starting point of our calculations (before this thread) was that the kids would always be with us because of access to Luminae. As of now, the total fare (6 fares total) stands at just over USD20k. I've just done a dummy booking and any other combination (5 fares total over an S1 and an adjoining cabin (3 in suite and 2 in the adjoining room - most of the adjoining C rooms or FV rooms are double occupancy only)) still puts us more than that.

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Thanks everyone for the responses. I will check with my TA again regarding switching the kids to the inside room but from what I recall when I last tinkered with the idea, they were too young to be allowed their own cabin. I'm also not sure about their entrance to Luminae if they are not in the same cabin but I will send an email to my TA and ask her all these questions (another question is whether the kids booked in an inside can check in with us!). Hopefully we can work something out. I will update next week when my TA responds as she's closed on the weekend.

We want to be as close together as possible while being economical cost wise - we actually swapped our S1 from port to starboard side so that we would be near the inside room (judging from where the door opens on the deck plan). I had first looked at the adjoining C1, FV cabins on the various decks before deciding on the inside cabin but they were too expensive for a solo.

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Celebrity does not use a sticker. It is coded on the sea pass. I fought they will allow it to be transferred to the adult in the inside cabin.

Did you mean you fought for it to be transferred or do you doubt they will let it do that? Think autocorrect muddied up the meaning of your reply :)

As your solo cabin friend is not in a suite. If you want the solo passenger to eat with you in Luminae there will be a extra charge of $10 for breakfast, $20 for lunch (lunch only on sea days) $30 for dinner per visit.

 

 

 

If your booking is on a Solstice Class ship. As you said your getting a S1 suite. Some of the S1 suites on the aft corners have a C1 cabin that has a interlocking staterooms doors. You might have a better chance of all being able to eat together in Luminae. If you like the idea talk to your TA or Celebrity about access to Luminae and Michael's Club.

No access to Luminae is fine as we usually order room service or go to the buffet with the kids in tow and no other "help" from the family. It's more about giving the other adult the benefit of a package we have paid for but won't be using (in this case two!). Also, we have realised from past cruises that the other adult much prefers the buffet to any of the sit down options on a ship so even if we went to Luminae it would just be the four of us without her.

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I have just booked a s1 for my family of 4 and a very nearby inside stateroom for a solo passenger - CEL turned down our request to accommodate 5 in the RS as my youngest would be more than 2 years of age at the time of sailing. With the suites Go Best promotion, my two children (ages 5 and 2.5 at the time of sailing) each have the Non-Alcoholic Beverage Package. The solo passenger (an adult) has nothing included in her fare.

The two children are obviously not going to use the Bev Packages which have been included in the fare. Does anyone know if CEL will allow the solo adult to use the youngest passenger's package instead? This is not a question of sharing a package, more if it is a sticker that's stuck to the sea pass, can we request for someone else to take that sticker (if it's done this way - I've never bought a bev package on CEL before so not sure how they do it).

Thanks!

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I had hoped for a better Australian season when new itineraries were released this week. Sadly I found it worse than the last round of releases and will be looking around for our Dec 2018 holiday. We haven't cruised as much compared to many on the boards so there are still itineraries in Europe which appeal to us.

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Don't take the word of 1 waiter. There is no truth in this. They are paid according to the per capita GDP of their home country. China GDP has grown up to about the level of Malaysia. So it is much cheaper to hire from Vietnam, Indonesia or Rumania. Singapore used to have ships homeport here with Chinese nationals. Not any more. Never seen a single Singapore national staff on these ships for the same reasons.

I'm not sure that you're not saying the same thing as the waiter (i.e. that vessels homeported in China have primarily non-Chinese crew). In any case, Singapore *still* has ships with many Chinese nationals as crew. Mariner is one such example.

But either way, it's tangential to the topic at hand so let's get back to the discussion.

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I am considering booking a GS on Mariner for a 5 night Asia cruise in Feb. Can you tell me some more about the experience/ perks/ concierge lounge/ drinks to help me decide. It is for 3 people, my husband and myself and our 21 yo daughter . Thanks

This was only our third suite experience (not counting JS) and the second was onboard the Harmony with the bells and whistles is the Royal Suite Class. So our expectations coming into this cruise were cautious at best. We ended up really enjoying ourselves. They had three rotating concierges (Yin Tao / Harry / Sherry). Yin Tao was wonderful, can't say enough good things about him. He was very visible, ever helpful and had a most pleasant disposition. What the suite experience lacked in physical extras, it made up for it with heart.

Due to the lack of upper tier C&A members, they combined the diamond and concierge lounge, closing off one of the rooms. There was no overflow; the lounge was always either empty or near empty whenever we popped in. Continental breakfast, afternoon canapés and bar happy hour were held in the lounge during the day. Suite guests could also use the Lyrics dining room when the MDR was open for lunch or breakfast and we had reserved seating in Chops for breakfast if we chose.

Yin Tao was there to usher us to the ice shows (very well attended on our cruise) where they had reserved seating for suite guests. We were also invited to a 50-min behind the scenes tour where we visited Studio B and the kitchens. It was very informative and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

We could order off the main dining room menu for room service but menus were often not updated by our cabin steward (however they're not difficult to find). We did do this once and liked the flexibility.

On the final day, we went to the deck of disembarkation and Yin Tao ushered us off the ship via a separate line. It was all easy and fuss free.

Would we cruise in a suite again on a non-Oasis/Quantum class ship? In a heartbeat!

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Thanks for the review. We sail the same itinerary one year from now and it will also be the cruise that pushes up to Diamond. We are based in the Far East so a Caribbean cruise is a once in a lifetime trip involving lots of travelling and other logistics so we are glad the ship is wonderful even if the itinerary can be improved.

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Regarding the crew etc, one of the waiters in the Windjammer on our recent Mariner cruise shared something interesting. One would expect the China itineraries to be staffed primarily by mandarin speakers (which would naturally mean more staff from China). We were chatting with the waiter (been with RCL for 9 years and she is from China) and she said this was not the case and that RCL consciously tries to staff caucasians/south Asians etc on the ships running the China itineraries because the passengers (almost 100% from China) don't want to go on vacation and see only their own countrymen onboard. So most Chinese crew get assigned to other Asian itineraries instead of to ships departing from China. Our ship had a large number of crew from China and we had a wonderful cruise. The concierge Yin Tao would give many other concierges a run for their money - he went over and above his line of duty to make the cruise a pleasure for the suite guests. We are booked on the Ovation in April next year and are confident that regardless of the nationalities of the crew, we will be able to enjoy our cruise.

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On uk website they show as listed but if you click for details the message "There has been a problem. Sorry, but an error has occurred. The website administrator has been informed." Comes up.

 

On the US site the links work but there is a blue sticker saying "special offer" but can't see what special offer is.[/url]

I was able to do a dummy booking all the way to the payment page and when I tried booking a Suites class room, the US site gave me all four perks. Fingers crossed now that this cruise is going to STAY!

good idea.

 

is the booking with celebrity or another line?

With Celebrity as well but with the sailings back up, now we have to decide which to go for! We booked a Scandinavia and Russia cruise onboard the Sillie in May 2018.

I actually have gone ahead and made a backup booking on another sailing just in case Reflection does not come through. Agree that Celebrity is not handling this well at all but since deposits are fully refundable until final payment, I am not letting it ruin a planned vacation period.

My TA called Celebrity and said they didn't know either what was up with these cruises. She said she has received no notification either way (duh). Urgh!!

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We were in a GS (1598) on Mariner of the Seas which a ship in the same family. Loved the balcony - shady but not obstructed. They put in two lounge beds for our use. Definitely not gloomy. We are booked in a GS again on Voyager next year and can't wait!

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Just got off Mariner yesterday and took picture with Capt Claus Andersen so he's definitely not on Adventure as of now.

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We have already booked the May 18, 2018 Italy/Greek Isles cruise while on board Summit a couple of weeks ago. I hope they come back soon. I would hate to have my booking cancelled already!

What perks did you receive? I booked the same day they were released, so just wondering....I can't see my cruise either...

I booked a June Italy/Greek Isles cruise (aren't they popular) the day itineraries were released as well and got all four perks because we booked an S1. Was really looking forward to it. I can no longer see my cruise but when I log in, it's still listed amongst my bookings. Hopefully Celebrity gets their act together and updates their website!

This is wonderful - we are in Star Class on Oasis next and this is great sharing thanks. Did Giovannis disappoint? Did you only make your specialty dining reservations onboard or prior to the cruise? We had a group of 6 but one has since dropped out and RCL gave my TA a tough time trying to adjust my booking for 5. Did you book your 4-pax occupancy way in advance?

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I called this morning and they are saying they can see the cruises so may be a glitch in the system...which would not be surprising.

Will keep fingers crossed and hope that's indeed the case. Thanks!

If anyone gets clarity on this issue, would be grateful if you could post it here. Thanks! Fingers crossed my sailing is still on.

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Would encourage you to try too. We really enjoyed Equinox and Solstice, are booked on Constellation in Feb 2017 and Reflection in 2018. We are big fans of RCCL for their child-friendly programmes and entertain but also really enjoy the service and relaxed classy vibe of Celebrity and can't wait to get back on in two months!

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There was a Santa on our current Mariner sailing - there was a photo taking cum meet and greet scheduled. :)

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I put all 3 names in the Google Doc for the CL and DL and indicated that they alternate.

I checked - they closed the lounge on Deck 9 as the combined number of suite and diamond members during the Asian season is not high, so one lounge suffices. Apparently they do open it during the Australian season or on sailings where the numbers are higher. Have to say the lounge has always been empty or near empty each time we have been there. Hope this helps.

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Thanks for the information -- which concierges are in the CL and who is in the DL?

All three take turns manning the CL in the DL. I don't think any one is in the actual CL on deck 9 but I will check when I'm next on Deck 14.

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Current concierges on Mariner of the Seas are Yin Tao, Sherry and Harry. Concierge Lounge is on deck 14 in the "Diamond Lounge" and suite breakfast is served there as well. Not sure what's happened/happening to the original designated CL on deck 9.

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