SLOTheta

I would say that was my experience, too. He liked to crack jokes and organize free slot pulls. But, every time I had a question about comps, future cruises, points, etc, he never gave me an answer. I thought the point of a casino host was to encourage consistent gamblers to come back. All the free gimmicks just draw people in who wouldn’t typically spend a lot of time or money in the casino.

I’m having a brain freeze and I can’t recall our Casino Host’s name. I came off the Solstice yesterday. I played every day for several hours, a mix of slots, tables, and roulette. It was moderately busy. It never was super packed, which was fine by me. I asked the host several times how comps and perks go, since with amount of gambling, I would have expected free Dinners, spa discounts, free cruise offers delivered to my room (my experience with HAL) he said he would review my play and comp me at the end. I reminded him the last night. Nothing was done to adjust my bill. We shall see if I get any offers in the coming weeks. But, my first experience gambling on Celebrity wasn’t as fruitful as I would have hoped (lost quite a bit and didn’t get any comps). I am MGM platinum (I go to vegas once every other month) and sail on HAL typically. I’m not sure if I will try Celebrity again since gambling and the perks that go with it are a big part of enjoyment.

On Thursday, we had a sea day. On our first day in the ship, the had a raffle at the spa. It was packed waiting for the prizes. We didn’t win anything, but we were given a flyer for the “Managers Special” that was $199 for a message if you booked that day. We were looking to get a massage during our trip, but most were $299 to $399. We had our massages on Thursday at the same time. It was really nice experience. My therapist was very good and I loved the Elemis products. I didn’t but then in the ship since I buy directly from the site when they have 20% off sales. After our massage, we spent time in the Persian Garden. We loved the heated loungers and the warm sun that came through the room. I spent about 4 hours gambling on the sea day, with no huge successes. But, lots of free drinks and enjoyment out of gambling. Thursday was another dress up night. It was nice to see people dressed up (to varying degrees) We had another delicious dinner in Blu that included lobster. I also ordered Duck a l’orange from the MDR and it was huge! Even though the duck was great, I wish I had ordered 2 lobster tails. I ordered a dry rose to go with my lobster and it was very reasonable at $10. My sister had the filet mignon that was cooked perfectly (more rare).

Our final port day was in Puerto Vallarta. I have a friend who lives there, she was able to book us a reservation at the El Dorado Restaurant and Beach Club. It’s a bit if a taxi mafia as soon as you get off the ship. The exit was about a 5 min walk to the right from the port lot. We walked across the street to the VIPS restaurant, in front of walmart and I called a Uber. I was taken advantage of the last time in PV, where we were charged $20 for a quick ride. It was $7 including tip with Uber. At the El Dorado, there’s a minimum spend of $25 per person, but no additional rental fees. They had super comfy loungers and great food. It was our last day and we hadn’t bought any souvenirs or gifts. There was a constant flow of sellers coming by, all very nice if you didn’t want to buy anything and moved on quickly. We bought very well priced hats, shawls, jewelry, carvings, etc. the beach was pleasant and water a decent temperature. The only thing about the beach club is we were chastised by one of our servers for buying fresh oysters from one of the sellers who came by. Seemed a bit needless since we spent $120 USD in food and drinks at the restaurant already. The oysters were a few dollars. Other than that, It was a great day on the beach We received an invite to the sail away on the Helipad when we’re back in the room. I’m not sure why we received it, but glad we did. They served champagne and mimosas. Several of the crew members were there and it was a beautiful sail away.

We never saw it on our printed menus on the Solstice. If I had not read on cruisecritic that I could order from the MDR, I would have never seen or known of my options. It was never mentioned by the staff and not printed anywhere while we were in the Blu

Auto tips to me, is the bare minimum. For a full service meal, leaving a few dollars in appreciation is how I show my gratitude.

On the Solstice, in the Blu, there’s no section called “every day classics”. There is a section called “Timeless Appetizers” available on the MDR menu that includes the items noted above. Here are the screen shots from the MDR, followed by a sample of the Blu menu, which doesn’t have an every day classics section.

After our beach day in Mazatlan, we headed to Murano for the Veuve Clicquot dinner. The max was 10 people, but there were only 6 of us. My sister and I were seated with a group of 4 around a circle table in the front. They were from LA, and very lovely dinner guests. We had 3 champagnes and 2 still wines. All were carefully explained, with historical tidbits about Madame Clicquot. The sommelier was very knowledgeable. Each dish was perfectly paired. I don’t eat red meat and was able to sub out the filet Mignon with lobster. Everything was delicious and was worth the $200. Even though they added tax and gratuity to our account, the service was excellent, we left a nice little extra for the staff. We had plenty of champagne after all was poured and they would pour out whatever was left if you asked. I would definitely do this dinner again and was surprised so few people took advantage of it.

We left the Solstice today and during the last night, a couple who had dined in the Blu every night, gave little bags of chocolates to the staff. They had packed them in a cooler bag. We sat next to them almost every night. Nice gesture, but they never left a tip each of the nights they were there. Of course, the staff was all polite. But, I’m sure they would have preferred the cash.

That’s is not what customer relations told us. It was our first time in the ship, so I went to ask the first day. We were assigned a MDR time, should we want to go there. She told us to let the MDR maitre D know when we arrived what nights we planned on eating in the MDR and we would have the same table during our set dining time.

1) Not of the items you show in your post above ever showed up on the Blu menu. They were all on the MDR menu on Solstice. Maybe it’s on other ships, but escargot, shrimp cocktail and onion soup, Cesar salad, etc never showed up once. We also ordered duck and desserts from the MDR that weren’t on Blu. Maybe it was just our staff who was accommodating. I’m glad they were and they received a nice tip at the table every night

I always tip a minimum 10% on take out. These staff members are making minimum wage, giving 10%+ isn’t going to impact me greatly.

I left the ship today and there wasn’t an issue bringing soft drinks on when we on onboarded and in port stops. I would bring a 6 pack for each of you to start. If you gamble in the casino, you can get free soft drinks there. Every port, pick up some more soft drinks. The drink packages are way over priced. If your likes to have a couple of drinks, they can bring 2 bottles of wine to consume in your room without charge. I would buy a drink here and there at dinner and then bring the glass back to the room to use it for wine, you can walk around the ship with your wine glass without issue.

Our 2nd port day was Mazatlan. I had stopped here before on our last Mexican cruise before Covid in 2019. There isn’t a ton to see or do, but I wanted some nice beach time. We decided to go to Stone Island. We had to take a trolley out to the gates of the port. We walked right and ran into a bunch of construction so we hailed a pulmonia, which is a golf cart like vehicle that has been upgraded. It was $3 to get to the ferry pier. It’s 40 pesos each person for the round trip to Stone Island. It’s best to bring pesos, since you’ll get up charged by using USD. The ferry ride was quick, it’s a small fishing type boat that fits about 20 people We walked 10 minutes across the island, through unremarkable roads and arrived at Lety’s. I had read good reviews about the food and drinks. We asked for spots near the beach and they had 2 loungers available. If you buy food, the umbrella and lounge chairs are included. We ordered guacamole and 2 Don Julio Palomas. It was $20 including tip, great deal for a few hours of lounging by the beach. It was quiet and didn’t have a ton of people, and very few tourists. We walked back to the ferry stop and there were several boats waiting. We arrived at the port and took the 20 mins walk back to the ship. We bought a few trinkets and souvenirs at the shops right before you board the ship. Very good pricing

MDR dining time was both in our reservation and in the app. Maybe it was a glitch, but it showed in our app

We ate in Blu every night, except for the one night we ate at Murano for the Veuve Clicquot dinner. Every night, we were able to order items of the MDR menu. We had escargot every night, and selected additional entrees from MDR to add to our Blu entrees (on the lobster night, I added the duck from the MDR). It never was an issue.

We learned the best thing to do was to go to Blu for breakfast and get glasses of fresh orange juice and grapefruit juice. We picked up the juice in the buffet the first day and decided it wasn’t worth the calories. The fresh juices in Blu were delicious

For black jack, there were 4 different tables - single card and multiple deck. They ranged for $10, $15, $25 and $50 min per hand. For 3 card poker, it’s $10 for ante and pairs plus, it ends up being $35 a hand if you play. I scored trip 2s! Craps is $10 and Roulette is $5. I played hours of roulette

Hi there! There isn’t an easy way to post all the shows since it’s in the daily calendar in the app and there are a million things going on. DJs, Broadway type shows, musicians of all types, dancing, movies, trivia, etc. There’s literally something for everyone.

I keep the auto gratuity on our account. I also give additional tips to everyone who serve us, a few dollars per day for our room steward, $1 per drink at the casino and bar, a few dollars for breakfast or lunch service, $5+ for dinner in Blu. We gave $20 for our specialty dinner. I like to directly support the people who serve us during our trip, the auto gratuity is the bare minimum for us. The extra $100+ per trip in additional tips won’t be too hard on my bank account, but I know every bit for the staff on this ship helps their families back home.

We have an aqua class room and were assigned a MDR dining time of 8:30pm. But, when we checked the menu for each night, nothing enticed us to go to the MDR over Blu. Each day, the Blu menu was much more appealing than MDR. I would look at each days menu and select the menu that calls to you. We never found an MDR menu that was better than Blu

Day 4 - Our first port stop in Cabo We arrived a little before 12pm. We wanted to avoid the rush of all the folks who were eager to leave the ship. We had lunch in the MDR. I had the seafood roulette which I asked to be made without onions or bell peppers and they made it specifically for me. It was very good. Since we didn’t know how long the queue would be to get on the tender, we grabbed tender tickets before heading back to the room. By the the time we walked to our room, our tender group was being called. The tenders don’t leave until absolutely every seat is full. For those who were physically challenged, it wasn’t fun getting on the tender. The crew asked for tips, so be sure to bring a few dollars with you (both ways). We arrived on shore fairly quickly and had time to kill before our whale watching tour. We grabbed a drink at a bar that had a front facing seats. Two Don Julio Paloma’s were $27. Not cheap, but it wasn’t outrageous. We booked a 2.5 whale watch with Cabo Trek which had a max of 12 people with a marine biologist as our guide. The boat was a decent size for 12, with an emergency bathroom. If you get seasick, I wouldn’t recommend it. It was pretty bumpy. We saw a bunch of whales and the information provided by the guide was informative. For $95 plus $20 tip a person, it was a great value. Since it was overcast, we headed back to the ship after we docked. It was an easy 7 minute walk back to the port tender. We had dinner at Blu with our same server, Amelia. Escargot, quail, butternut squash soup and duck. The duck was excellent. Perfectly cooked. I tried my luck in the casino again. The machines were not giving me any love. But, I played a few hours at the roulette table and ended up even, which is a win in my book Dropped by the ocean cafe for late night cheese pizza. Wasn’t great, but was filling and will help me sleep.

The whale watching was great! It was a bit overcast and chilly on the boat, I’m glad we brought the ship towels. But, we saw a bunch of whales during our 2 hour trip. It was great!

Good to know! I saw that there was a pre cruise discount for Murano and other restaurants. Glad we didn’t miss out

Day 2 - Our first sea day I had breakfast in Blu. My sister had a headache, so I dined by myself. I had 2 glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice and 2 glasses of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice.Both Delicious. When I was in the buffet the day before, I noticed the juice options were limited- fruit punch and a passion/orange mix. Neither were all that good. I ordered the salmon with capers, bagel and eggs Benedict. All were very good. A server with warm pastries came by and I picked up a croissant and danish. Since my sister could come with me, I asked to take 1/2 my meal back, they replated my breakfast and I took it back to her. We attended the art auction at 11:30am. I told myself I wouldn’t buy anything since I like to support local artists and have a quite a bit of art at home. I received a card in my room for 5 extra raffle tickets and $100 off a painting. Even so, I was determined not to buy anything. But, I found a piece I really liked by Michael Godard. They give you stickies to mark paintings that you are interested in. I left my stickie on it. As the auction went along, my piece didn’t come up. There are over 100 items in the gallery and not all can be put up for auction that day. The gallery manager walked up and asked if there was a piece I was interested in and that he would bring it up if I wanted it to. He offered me first bidat a discounted rate. The value was $2800, the pre offer was $1300, starting bid would be $1500. He said even if someone else bid on it at open f bid, I could get it at the pre-offer price. I took his offer and when the piece went up, I bid and was able to get it at the pre-offer price, not the opening bid of $1500. I had paid for wi-fi, so I knew I could buy a similar print unframed online for $1200. The frame was a perfect large silver frame that matched my house and from my previous painting framing experience, frames can cost $500+. I know the painting wasn’t worth the appraised value of $2800 (of which I paid $35 to get it appraised for insurance purposes) I still feel I had a deal at $1475 after taxes and appraisal. They ship it to you free within 12 weeks. I applied for the park west credit card with 0% financing for 12 months where I also received a free print for signing up. I received 1 glass of Champagne along with a print for attending (which my sister received also, without buying a thing). I had to come back at 6pm to finalize my payment. The gallery director checked me out and was very helpful. We had lunch in the MDR. My sister had a steak and salad, I had the duck. Both were decent. Nothing to write home about, but good all the same. I spent most of the day before dinner gambling in the casino. I played a mix of table games and slots. Nothing was hitting. I even won 200+ spins on Wonder 4 and won a close to $60 (not great seeing I had pumped $500 into the machine). But, the drinks were flowing fast and the service was very good. I learned I will never need a drink package if I gamble like I normally do while cruising. We went to dinner at 7pm at Blu, but it was really crowded. It was evening chic night and a lot of people dressed in sparkly things or nicer clothes. Not a lot of formal dress like I am used to on Holland. But, people were dressed better than the normal casual fare. We came back at 8pm and it was much more manageable. We had escargot, scallops (1 small one), crab bisque and gnocchi. The escargot was delicious as always, the tiny single fried scallop was ok, the crab bisque was delicious (except I had asked for no onions since I’m allergic and it had them, even after I saw them and said, are you sure?) and the gnocchi was a bit dry. We had coconut sorbet for dessert. I wish I had known we would get 2 scoops, we were super full. Very yummy sorbet, but I could finish it. After dinner, I headed back to the casino for more video poker and roulette. Didn’t have luck with either, but the several drinks helped. Tomorrow is our first port day in Cabo. I booked a whale watching tour online for $90 since celebrity’s offering was $250!