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Hi Paul,

Really do enjoy your posts and followed your B2B closely. Remembering you sailed in a Sky Suite during the first part of that B2B, do you have an opinion on the value of the UDP if you have a Sky Suite? We are sailing Reflection in August for 11 days in the Med, Sky Suite, and I am debating it. Know we will have Luminae at our disposal and we do love it.

Thanks for the great report!

I had asked the question that prompted this chain of responses "What is healthier about Blu's food", and I did it knowing that in my opinion the answer is "Nothing".

Exactly why I did not respond. Why hijack the thread?

Thank you everybody....I really appreciate the honest responses and I will talk it over with DH tonight and give some really serious thought to changing this cruise while it can do it without penalty! I failed to mention that I don't like seriously crowded places...so this was probably a bad choice all around...fortunately we can fly southwest from our local airport to yours and that is a far better plan....besides I can give up my cabin to someone who's wait-listed and really wants to go.

Hydro, you might also want to take a serious look at the roll call for this sailing. I think it's a packed ship and as I recall they had a bazillion posts. Not sure if that may be what you are looking for.

We have done one cruise in a suite and dined in Luminae, one in aqua and dined in BLU and all the rest in the MDR. We have dined three times in specialty restaurants.

 

I thought Luminae was generally on the same level as the specialty restaurants, except for the menu options. They are more limited, but we still loved Luminae food and service.

 

BLU is better than the MDR, but not quite as good as Luminae.

Agree with Papa's comments and will add this. We really enjoy Blu, especially the breakfasts, and even chose to dine once at Blu for breakfast rather than Luminae. Blu has healthier food and I am less susceptible to overdoing it than at Luminae. I thought the filet the first night at Luminae rivaled or bested Tuscan.

AJ, thank you! This is the exact cabin we booked for our August Mediterranean cruise and we previously cruised in Sky Suite 1214.

I have always thought it was funny that Celebrity talks about "conserving" the world through various cutbacks (like mailing luggage tags apparently)(and if I remember right they specifically say on the "elite welcome letter" about saving paper by putting the cruise get togethers only in that letter), AND THEN they inundate you with enough paper invitations to shopping and auction events to fill a waste basket!

 

And don't get me started about how many pictures they print to display in the "pictures for sale" area that are just wasted.

We received far fewer flyers during our January cruise, most of the advertising is now done via the onboard email setup from your TV.

I have no idea why they do not have it at Port of Miami but it saved us a ton of time at the airport in Miami. Incredibly long lines at TSA and they had signs warning TSA-Pre and Global Entry to not make comments to those standing in line.

I was going to mention Michaels in my last post but did not know if you would be interested. One of the reasons we rebooked a Sky suite was because of the access. The service was very nice with the bar/wait staff going out of their way to get to know what you liked to drink. It almost made having the premium beverage package a bit unnecessary. I know others will disagree but we found ourselves gravitating to Michaels rather than using the other bars.

mypyr, we sailed Reflection at the end of January/Sky Suite and truly enjoyed Luminae. We sailed in an Aqua class cabin and also enjoyed Blu but Luminae has it beat. I think you will truly enjoy it.

Looking forward to reading more about your impressions of Silhouette. We sailed her last year on a TA, and loved the ship.

 

Sorry others have attempted to hijack your thread. :rolleyes:

Thank you! Agreed.

Wonder what it would be with Condor? Condor one way Barcelona to Arizona in June was $800 in premium economy and $615 in economy. AA and Delta were twice as much and Choice Air was over $900 for regular economy.

 

AIR2SEA is the same thing as Choice Air for RCCL. If Celebrity cancels your cruise a definite maybe on a no cost rebook. Definite no if you simply choose not to go at all.

Don't have but those two experiences with Choice Air and wonder if they search carriers like SWA? The only reason I ask, is Condor in the same boat as SWA, IE not part of the aggregators? Really interesting, I had never heard of them and I just pursued their site. Thanks AZ!

Just booked Choice for our August flight to Rome (round trip) and prices were over $300 pp less than if I had booked direct with AA or Expedia.

When I booked our Miami flight for this March Choice was identical to the AA site.

We have done both a side AQ balcony on the Silhouette and an aft Sky Suite on Reflection. Do you give up some privacy with the stair step aft balconies, yes. If you are sitting back near the door then all those above you can see are your toes and if you are laying out on the balcony then it is no different than being at the pool. We really liked both.

No kettle bells that I can recall. The only plate type of free weight workout will be with a Smith-type or self spotting machine and dumbbells do go up to a pretty high weight (unlike some racks that stop at 50lbs). I am assuming they do not want people throwing/slamming around weights and it makes sense.

One nice thing is that for both my cruise on Silhouette and Reflection there never was that much activity in the weight area. Most people were just using the cardio equipment.

We are doing a 10 day cruise on Equinox in February and are booked in Aqua. Any opinion on UDP in addition to having Blu? Since we have four sea days I was thinking the UDP might have greater value. Porch for lunch and breakfast at Blu. I read that previously linked post and it is what got me thinking seriously about it, rather than a 3 or 5 dinner package.

Edit - Just remembered no Porch on Equinox and wondering if they have a lunch option with UDP on that ship.

I echo the comments from Waterbug and Prim8keeper, we have rented them both on Silhouette and Reflection and I too prefer the ones on Silhouette but both are great.

The best plan regarding location is to check them prior to 8:00am. On the Reflection we learned they put the name tags out the night before so we waited for the Alcove Butler to arrive, I think around 8:00 to 9:00 am. As soon as he gets there you can ask to change. It has worked for us a couple of times but I imagine the folks booking for a week pretty much get the choice. Worst spots are on the ends because you have more foot traffic.

I think another concern might be with the ones fitted with a camera. That and a host of other issues.

Will a 21 year old feel out of place in Blu? How smart is the dress code?

The simple answer would be no. If anything I think he might be more comfortable in Blu than the MDR. Plus, I think he might find the breakfasts are better.

I also agree with ghstudio's comment about the extra room. Makes getting ready for dinner and coming back from excursions less hectic.

We loved 1214- no washing equipment, sun and shade.

+1 for 1214, we had it during our January Reflection cruise and really enjoyed the side as well as aft views. It was very quiet and you never heard any hallway noise because there is an outer door that leads from the hallway into the doorway for 1214 and an adjoining aft cabin door. Very nice

Early Bird is $12.50 per.

Early Bird will provide you, depending upon when you purchase and the number of people flying, an opportunity to board in the first group, most likely A and sometimes a good B group. This almost certainly seats you next to your travel companion and without a worry about finding overhead bin space.

If you are flying late enough, I believe the cutoff is 12:30, then you can purchase luggage valet for $20 per while on our cruise. Since you are flying SWA then you have no additional tag-on baggage fees. You put the bags outside your room the night before and then do not worry about them until you return to Indiana.

If you wanted to board before anyone else then you could, as bEwAbG suggested, pay extra for Business Select. I have never seen much value in Business Select vs. Early Bird but welcome differing opinion. It's always way too expensive for my blood.

Note, Luggage Valet and Early Bird are completely separate programs. All you receive from Luggage valet is the convenience of them printing your boarding passes and handling your luggage (that's the best part) but you are not putting yourself on the Early Bird list by buying the luggage valet program. I like both and would do Early Bird in conjunction with Valet. Assuming you have a late enough flight. So, if you did both then it would cost $32.50 per person for the return flight.

However....you don't *have* to have all the courses that night. Ask for a main dish salad or just the entree. Let them know. Tell them to skip the amuse bouche and just get the entree or ask for a salad and entree at the same time.

 

Honestly, if we had that schedule we would probably eat a very late light breakfast. Then we'd have a really good late lunch maybe mid afternoon.

Then go on the excursion and if we really wanted to, have a dessert when we got back.

Agreed, you can get in and out in an hour easily. However, I was amazed at how fast time flew during the dinner.

This was the account from our thread./QUOTE]

 

Scuba, the photobombing guy in the first photo made me laugh! Thank you for reposting. Anyone have any current information for embarkation day? I saw a post last spring that stated it was open on embarkation at 12:00. I would pay extra for lunch.

The ship's wifi IS the internet and their pricing plans vary. You can do via a per minute charge at $.65 a minute or go for one of their many packages that you purchase a block of minutes. When you board, go to the computer room and take a look at all their internet packages and see what fits you best.

Exactly. On Reflection last month we found that internet worked just fine but it is not like Wi-Fi at Starbucks. Some of the internet based communication apps worked, IE Facebook, but others were blocked.

Thank you! Assumed as much but wanted to check.

CTBob and other Eclipse experts, I have a question. We loved the Alcoves on Silhouette and Reflection and I understand they do not exist on Eclipse. Do they have any pay-for lounge or sundeck area?