bEwAbG

Re: the buffet and empty tables.  I worked at a restaurant in my long-ago youth that had a line you went through to order/pay and then you went to find a table.  On busy days, people could not understand why we wouldn't let the whole family sit down to claim a table before their party went through the line.  If the seating is full, the people in front of you cannot clear the line.  I think ship's buffets should work the same.  First in, first out and don't let people camp out at tables if they're not eating.

X doesn't help anyone by throwing towels on every chair, making it appear as if they've been claimed when they haven't.  I don't understand why they do this.  People would very easily learn that they could go pick up a towel when they need one and it would be more clear what chairs were already taken.

Chair hogs are not limited to X of course.  Same happens anywhere there is a pool.

The safety reason is quite condescending in its absurdity.  Every other line provides loungers on balconies and right up against railings on public decks.  X will apparently bring you one if you ask.  So how does it follow that the reason they're being removed is because they're suddenly unsafe?  It's insulting that the executive office is telling people this.

As with all of the amenities, X hopes you won't know to ask and they can save money when they need to buy more with the rationale that no one is asking for them.  Not to mention that training is so inconsistent that many people will be told it's not possible when they do ask. 

You know who doesn't put this burden on its passengers?  Their competitors.

I'm on team "it's a long walk."  I'm not mobility challenged but being in those corner aft suites, you get a lot of steps in.  I did forget something on one of those walks, and we were already running late.  Having to go back to the room added more time to the lateness.  I prefer the M-class aft elevators for convenience.

Interesting observations based on your experiences.

I would give HAL the award for best buffet.  It might have more limited selections but those to me have always been well prepared and consistently good, plated at the correct temp and served to you by staff, so they have less of the "ick" factor than the traditional buffet experience.  Their desserts are always consistently better to me, too.  I feel like Celebrity goes for style over substance too often (pretty but zero taste).

Every line has its strengths and weaknesses.  The real takeaway is to get out there and try them to see how you like them.  I understand why people develop brand loyalty, but I feel like you're missing out if you don't mix it up every now and again.

Keep an eye out in the next few weeks for how Vancouver is doing boarding.  They tend to tweak it season to season, but Canada Place is often a hot mess.  In years' past, priority didn't get you much of anything in terms of getting past security and immigration.  Any cruise line specific priority would only help for the parts of the process they control (check-in).  Cruises earlier in the season also tend to be more chaotic than later in the year, and of course the number of ships on the day you're sailing is a factor.  Check out the West Coast Departures board and also monitor the upcoming trips that people on Celebrity will be posting about. 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/gifts

I think they were just trying to be helpful.  You owed the money due to their mistake but better to handle it while on the phone than to risk your reservation getting cancelled because you now owe a balance you didn't pay.  Modern computer systems are great at automating a lot but sometimes it can be detrimental to the customer, especially once the people who set up the system initially have moved on and their replacements have no idea how it all works.

Most of us somehow survived childhood boredom.  If it was a mistake, it was a mistake, but you won't know that until it's done.  Are you willing to lose the $1K?  Otherwise, go and make it a fun trip for your family.  Celebrity is more sedate than NCL.  Knowing that now, you can plan for it. 

Love your photos.  Oftentimes people post their food shots and people scream "looks delicious!" and I don't see it.  Yours actually make the food look good, or at least real-to-life (I saw a sketchy baked potato).  I will say that HAL's food almost always looks a lot better to me than comparable lines, and your photos really capture that.

10 minutes ago, MrsB05 said:

Where is Luminae located on Constellation? 

I know there isn't a Retreat Lounge per se, is it Michael's Club?

TIA

Luminae is carved out of the main dining room space, deck 4.  Michael's Club is the Retreat lounge space on non-Revolutionized ships.   

Facebook.  It's not forbidden to say it.  Not sure why people think otherwise.  CC just doesn't want you to steer people from here to roll calls on FB is all (don't join a roll call and tell people to join them on your FB roll call).  It's in the guidelines.

If you're on a cruise that has the same itinerary, you can look that up and get a good idea, e.g., if the one this week is going to be the same as the one you're on.  Or if you post which one you're going on, people can generally give advice as to what days will be Chic Night.  Most often on sea days and never the last night. 

If everyone has to sign a slip, it slows down the service because the bartenders have to print a slip and then wait for people to sign.  I can see why it would be annoying if it was being done at every (or most) bars, especially the busy ones.  Part of the all-inclusive appeal is that you can just order without thinking about it, including waiting for a receipt to sign.

X has had a longtime problem with some bartenders charging multiple drinks to a single card whether they belong to that package or not.  This was probably meant to address that.  Hard to get real analytics if the front line people are doing whatever they want and skewing the results.  I think the answer could be in having drink ordering done via the app, but I don't know that RCCL has the technical know-how to dream that big.

When Luminae was first announced, they said it would be open every day for lunch but did a retreat (!) on that before it was rolled out.  Quite a brouhaha about it then.  Luminae has not been open at lunch on port days (except embarkation), from the beginning.

21 hours ago, LJanet said:

I read Celebrity Persian Garden is far superior than HA Greenhouse Spa.  Food also far

superior than HA. 

I might agree on Persian Garden, though I think they are very similar products so not sure what Celebrity's would have over HAL's.  I would not say Celebrity's food is "far superior" than HAL.  That may have been true at one time but Celebrity's food standards have slipped a great deal from when that was true.  I find them more similar than different and have had some terrific meals on HAL. 

I too would vote for Glacier Bay and HAL as the itinerary unless you plan to do this route regularly.  If it's a one-and-done (which I think it is, though I know many who would disagree), I would choose to see Glacier Bay.

1 hour ago, cruisestitch said:

How can you tell they are the same?

Posting history.

The ships can be cool in the evening, too, so that should be a consideration.  I often find them cold, even.  I wear shorts all the time at home but feel more comfortable in long pants (or jeans) in the evenings on the ships.

10 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Same OP? Incognito?

Same OP, new username.  Same drumbeat.

Same OP, same topic, more or less same answer...

.

On 3/23/2024 at 11:32 AM, catspaw1 said:

If they lowered the price a lot or I had more OBC, I would do it. I am currently taking a French cooking class through adult education. 8 hours for about $130 including food costs. We always have enough to take home some also. I cook from scratch almost every day. Just made homemade tomato soup- far superior to Campbell's 

Mind if I ask where you're taking that class?  I'm in your area and looking for a gift idea for someone.

11 hours ago, miched said:

Why don’t they sail out of Houston, NOLA, and etc?    
 

Happy  cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

More ships are sailing out of Galveston these days and I doubt X has the demand to compete with the others.  I have family in TX, but my problem every time we've looked at sailing from there is that it takes a couple days to get out of the Gulf and a couple days on the back end, so the itineraries are very limited on a typical 7-day cruise.  Cannot get too far into the Caribbean before turning back, so lots of Western Caribbean/Mexico stops but not much else.

The internet discussion is interesting but a fatal flaw of the OP's post is the idea that you have to send a photo to anyone, let alone pay more money to do so.  Texting photos is a relatively recent development in our lifetimes, even more so from the middle of the ocean.   I'm sure the recipients will survive without visual proof that you are where you say you are.

Frankly, I wish they would sell one or two of them and use the crew to better staff the rest of the fleet. 

3 minutes ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

How early can you disembark celebrity cruise ship?

 

 

Celebrity - what time do you have to disembark by? Our ship hits port at 6AM. While it will vary slightly by ship, and disembarkation port, the vast majority of times, all guests are off the ship by 9:30/10 am.

But the instructions you receive on the ship always give you a time to be out of your room and in a designated area and it's never "stay in your room until 10am."  That's the whole reason there is an embarkation lounge for Elite level.