canderson

Among the RCG, only Silversea fits into that category.

Now *that's* funny! Pleased to hear that the PH somehow got bypassed with some of the other, less comfortable Hoppenized furniture that was spread around other parts of the ship. Great 'patio party' pics. That's getting good use of the most amazing veranda in the fleet!

When I cancel and rebook something, there's never more than a 2 working day spread between the charge and credit. Using a credit card, bank issued.

I see that now. So did you try to get into and out of this one? How did it go? 😄

All four of the M class PH suites are the same with regard to layout. So the space and amenities you'd find either way (apart from a grand piano - more on that later) won't vary. That said, a few years back, Celebrity decided to "Revolutionize" their fleet. They didn't quite get that completed before COVID hit, and so not all ships received this 'updated' treatment. Let me preface this by saying we haven't spent any time at all in an M class PH in a 'Revolutionized' ship. Infinity and Constellation remain pre-rev. Part of the 'rev' process has been to install all new furniture in staterooms and public spaces, and in general, the ergonomics of the new furniture has been fairly widely panned here and elsewhere. However, one of the other pieces of the redeco puzzle was to bring some of the darker/wood/old school areas into the new, brighter and blander gray and taupe era. This includes what was once called Michael's Club (now the suite lounge) and upper level suites with the old decor. So there's that to consider, and it's largely a matter of personal preference. Even if you were to choose Constellation, all of the PH soft goods were replaced during the late 2021 dry dock. Sat our keisters on brand new couches in December 2021. So while the old school look remains, there's the new but comfortable non-rev furniture to enjoy. As for the grand piano, last we saw, they remained in both Infinity and Constellation PH, but we heard they were removed from Millennium and Summit as part of the 'Revolution'. Our jumping around and avoiding the 'rev' ships prevents us from commenting on those last two. Perhaps someone else can confirm.

Sounds like someone here who knows where to find one (and cares enough to do it!) needs to post up a picture of the 'hairless wonder' for you.

I've always wondered whether his recipes just haven't been properly documented, or whether there's something about them that makes them particularly hard to execute on a large scale. That's definitely not the issue for one 'signature' item, though ... In the beginning, the Moroccan Chicken Tagine on the Luminae menu seemed to be favored by quite a number of suite diners, even getting good reviews here on Cruise Critic. In more recent years, I've seen it called dry, poorly flavored, etc. Hard to do either of those to a pre-packaged sous vide prepared dish, but somehow the galley has managed to do so. Or did the shoreside folks screw it up?

Indeed. If they tried to shut it down on a TA at-sea day, there would be a mutiny. We find it to be a fairly popular place on those cruises vs. others. Which is both predicable and odd at the same time. Predictable that in that on a TA, pax are often looking for a good spot for some R&R with a view, the shipboard experience being a primary driver for even being there, and odd since a TA at-sea day provides the least amount of actual things to look at of any cruise one could take!

Nothing like a deck 6 PH view looking back through the locks of Panama (if you've already seen it from the other end)! On M class and S class, where the RS are represented in the top 10 cabins aboard amongst a total of 1,092 (M class) or 1,425 ~ 1,525 (various S class), we have noted that the recognition seems to extend to all 10, if not the unwritten additional PH+ perks. We've also noted differences in HD practices on a particular cruise. Have never been sure if those were at the direction of the Hotel Director, or just the rare butler who was given the 'liberty' to make our journey the best it could be, even if a good bit beyond the published 'perks'. As for a more specific case: While traveling in an M class RS on a long TA cruise, they once missed sending us a 'door card' spelling out the time and place for an upcoming event whose schedule wasn't known at boarding, but that they knew were were really wanting to attend. When we didn't put in an appearance, they evidently sent out a search party! Found us in Cellarmasters and made sure we made it to the event, albeit a little bit late. In another 'card' foul up for an event not locked down at boarding, we were once sent a card welcoming us to the Tuscan for dinner, making note of the usual $25 (or whatever, back then) pp upcharge, etc. etc. This was so far removed from anything we had planned that I ignored it until the next afternoon when I dropped in at the Tuscan to inquire as to why we had received the specialty dining card. They apologized profusely, explaining that we should have instead received the Champagne Tasting card for that event being held in the Tuscan the previous evening. They asked if we were still interested in the event, and darned if they didn't set up the tasting dinner again for just the two of us that evening. Right after the COVID restart, it was necessary to-retest between B-?-B cruises (B2B, B3B, whatever one was doing). Rather than just leave the instructions on the bed the night before turn day as is more common, they got us all together to explain what the process would be, how and when to schedule a new COVID test with the infirmary, how to deal with the results, and what the disembarkation and embarkation process would be. Everyone was of course paranoid that they might not pass the intermediate test and their BwhateverB would come to a crashing halt. Fortunately, everyone passed. However, during that meeting in Blu, my wife left a Celebrity bag with a purchase she had made between her chair and table. Fortunately, the Seapass receipt was still in it, so they knew to whom it belonged. Rather than just returning it to our cabin, Paolo, one of the Retreat hosts and one who had been there with us during the B2B meeting, took the time to track her down and hand deliver it to her some 30 minutes after the fact, worried that she'd be wandering around trying to figure out where she had left it. As in the first example, they somehow located her amongst a ship full of pax. It's really hard to beat that kind of service.

Expensive in absolute $, but the cabins are much larger, there aren't upcharges for everything, basic excursions are free, and Elite on Celebrity get free laundry and dry cleaning and automatic cruise fare discounts as part of the status match now. Their newest ship class is equivalent in GT to the old Celebrity Horizon class, but with a lot less passengers and lots of crew.

Time to give Silversea a try. We didn't miss any of those 'distractions' on our last cruise!

How would you feel if they absorbed even more of the public space aboard by paying for it - during a non-charter cruise? How much of the ship's space should any private entity (or good grief, even more than one private group at a time!) take over during a non-charter cruise, depriving pax who weren't warned and didn't expect to run into this of space they expected to use during their cruise? The "paying big money" argument can be extended to some pretty ugly lengths if we wish. Further, we've all heard stories of other huge (hundreds of pax) groups booking cruises and taking over bits of public space for the duration of the cruise. To be fair, a cruise line should allow someone planning to book a cruise to make an informed decision by providing advanced notice of these unusual situations - they can impact a cruise in a big way - but they don't and won't for obvious reasons. Too much push back in bookings.

Also wondering 'which ship'. Some don't even have a Cellar Masters now - converted to Craft Social during the 'rev'. As to the curtains, they are 'openable' and are opened for some daytime events held in that area on M class ships - e.g., the 'World Wine Tour' - in order to brighten things up.

It was so sad when they turned the space into Le Petit Gourmet in the M Class ships that don't even have Murano as an alternative. We've never seen the LPG venue well attended, but the old M class specialty restaurant was always pretty busy. Gone are the days of putting together a nice, intimate party in the 'wine cellar' nook.

Yes, it's different. The card players aren't there to make a 'fast' buck from some dodgy products using timeshare sales techniques. Annoying as situations as you describe can be at times, I'd begrudge the use of space far less to fellow passengers. As for the argument that all ship space should be making the line money, the majority of public space aboard could be described as generally 'non-revenue', the free dining venues, theater and Solarium being three of the largest. Does anyone know approximately how many pax PW is able to entice to one of these cruise 'events'?

It's true that two of you would be 'rattling around' in the PH, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. A couple of upsides: You'll have a full size fridge in your butler's pantry. There are times when that's nicer and more convenient than the mini-fridge, and even in a RS, that's all you get on an M class ship. The interior dining space is very nice if you plan to have meals served there, but while the real benefit is the size of the table (the non-rev M class table seats six nicely, don't know about Summit) and it's just the two of you. The other big upside, of course, is the amazing veranda. If you plan to travel with others, you can make that veranda 'party central' if you like. It's far more space than you'd really need for two people, and cries for a gathering of some sort. But you say you're traveling alone, so unless you want to invite your roll call over for an event, it's not going to be used that way. It's definitely a unique experience any way you cut it. You don't say what your itinerary is, but looking at the Summit November schedule, those are all 7nt RT San Juan cruises. With highs in the mid-80s every day, you'd have plenty of opportunity to check out the veranda, but there's a port every day except for the run back from Dominica, so I don't know how much time you'd have to spend there. Where these particular cabins are sweet is on a TA with family! In the end, will probably be a 'whatever makes the wife happy' event for you. These cabins disappear quickly on cruises where a lot of veranda time is going to be available, and on many others as well, so this might be your ideal chance to give one a try.

Apart from the two WB TAs we've taken that terminated in NJ, we've always had good use of our TA balconies. We've even held small parties on them.

We're talking in circles. If someone actually wanted a 5:30 booking, they'd never see that. But I take your point that if you book the early seating, you'll get the early seating, regardless of whatever time is shown (but it won't be 5:30), and whatever time it actually happens aboard. That said, in all of our X cruises where we had a fixed dining time, we've never had an 'early' seating as early as 5:30, either.

Absolutely. It was purchased from X's inventory. I hate to say much more about this! The silent auction, when there is one, is usually at the first event if there will be more than one, and is almost never announced by the person who kicks off the event. It gets set up and pretty much forgotten. On M class, I have usually stumbled over it by wandering more to the center of the ship than the event itself, over to the Cellarmasters bar table - the one nearer Sushi on 5, not the old champagne bar nearer the San Marco (photo follows) - or its current equivalent on the two rev'd ships, where I typically find four or six bottles and sheets of paper where you can add a $ amount and cabin number, and IIRC, a signature. There's typically little to no competition, because it's never announced and off the beaten track of the event by a little bit. Now see what I've gone an done? I suspect it's an 'odd bins' sale of small number of items that don't have sufficient remaining inventory to show on a wine list.

What I'm saying is that although this person was provided a 5:30pm seating time, I've never once seen the ability to reserve a 5:30pm seating time in advance, no matter what the online mechanism used. That would need be done aboard --- or in this case, it would need to occur as a unplanned 'surprise' having picked a different dining time and be moved to 5:30pm.

Interesting that they did the 6:00 to 5:30 time switch-up. My comment was regarding the 5:30 time, which I've never seen made available online before. Perhaps just an IT glitch? If one really wanted to assure a 5:30 slot, I think it would be necessary to do so onboard.

No. The ones they served us were 'free range'. 😁 I did miss that touch in the current version, but the taste of the souffle itself is still 100% the old M. Roux recipe.

Hint... Go to the World Wine Tour. Wander around until you see the 'silent auction' table. You can often get a decent bottle at shoreside retail or slightly less that way. Found a decent vintage Far Niente on my last X cruise that I enjoyed, about $20 less than the price at home.

Back to Silversea, where I would imagine they'd be embarrassed to have these hucksters aboard. Perhaps too discerning of a clientele for it to make any money?

Personally, it's not just the fact that a private company would have taken over 'our' public space, it's the idea that the private company that occupies it has previously demonstrated the integrity of a used car lot run out of a trailer with a big "We Finance Here" sign hanging crookedly over the door. Worse, and here's the nub of it, they're making a profit at our expense.