abbydancer2003

14 minutes ago, goofysmom99 said:

I repeat, I don't see M&Ms ever returning.  They win.

Maybe.  The reason they stated to me was that it was too crowded for Covid.  Of course that didn't stop them from doing the more crowded Silent Disco.

And honestly, the closest I've ever seen to private to announcement was when the group asked me to introduce myself because I ran the roll call spreadsheet.  Maybe that was your experience, but it wasn't mine.

22 minutes ago, CruisingTheWaves said:

All I can say is that I had the name of a specific butler to call, she was definitely NOT a stateroom attendant, made herself extremely visible (I saw her almost every time I left my stateroom) and was willing to help with anything I asked for. 3 people were retreat concierges for my sailing.

Did you get a card, and did it say butler or head butler?  We've only had head butlers (all were responsive) and the card stated that.

9 hours ago, upwarduk said:

Certainly no mention of Meet & Mingle on the last Webinar.

10 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

I don't recall that either. I also think if they were starting up again Cruise Critic would make an announcement.

I don't think it would be mentioned on a captains club webinar, since it has nothing to do with Captains Club, and applies to only a small percent of people on the cruise.  

11 minutes ago, billc23 said:

I guess it depends how you look at the situation. SS have a dedicated butler in addition to a cabin steward beginning with the current Solstice sailing. The current head butler will transition back into the butler pool and I am not sure when this will happen - probably on his next contract. The SS butlers do have more rooms than in the past but each SS is assigned a particular person as their butler. From reading the posts in this thread it seems that this is the case on other ships also - dedicated butlers back for SS but they have more rooms. 

 

 

 

As far as I can ascertain, the butlers are back for the SS on the Solstice the same as they are back on the other ships listed as having butlers back. If the question is: Have the butlers returned to the SS as they were in the past? No they have not. If the question is: Is the return of butlers to the SS at the current staffing level satisfactory to the SS guests? Time will tell and Celebrity is monitoring the feedback.

But that was the head butler model.  We had a "dedicated" head butler on our 3 cruises since the change, and he was not the head butler for all sky suites.  He was assigned to us, and did a lot of things.  The head butler did the minibar swaps (when I asked a room steward about putting some coke and gingerale in he called the head butler) but not the laundry or the food/drink delivery - that was handled by a dedicated room service team.   There were maybe 2-3 head butlers on each ship, and each had a set of rooms. 

I think maybe we're arguing semantics here.  

And we actually felt very well taken care of with the head butler model, but I know it wasn't consistent across the fleet.

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 There are a lot of distinction between the loyalty programs between the two as well as sailing experiences between the two.  

 

We did a side by side on Royal and Celebrity.  There were a lot of differences.  But their suite restaurant is open for lunch on port days.

10 minutes ago, patty1955 said:

1 hour ago, abbydancer2003 said:

Hmmm, I usually get the PUP emails the second day.  Never got it this time.  And for that matter, I haven't received a marketing email in about a week.

 

Maybe I'll resubsrcibe.  And thanks for the link.  I watched the video.  Learned almost nothing.

Would you please re-share the link. I missed it.

I don't have it.  Post 8858 on page 355 is the most recent.

25 minutes ago, Baynanno1 said:

 

I wonder whether the instruction from upper management was just for queries regarding return of butlers, or for any email enquiry?

 

December 2022 we received an email from the Shoreside Concierge several weeks prior to our cruise and exchanged a few more emails prior to the cruise.

 

I had not received an email prior to our cruise in October 2023, so I used the same email address successfully to contact the Shoreside Concierge.

 

We board again next week and I have attempted to contact the Shoreside Concierge using the same email address  theretreat@Celebrity.com  followed up several days later with  SolsticeRetreat@celebrity.com  which was included in a post by an experienced cruiser.

 

I have not had any response from either address.

A week after I got my move up accepted, I emailed SolsticeRetreat and asked if I'd get a call.  No response.  About a week ago, I got a long emial from them asking for information.  I returned it with what they requested, and asked a couple of questions.  No response.  I also emailed a question over the weekend and no response on that either.

Hmmm, I usually get the PUP emails the second day.  Never got it this time.  And for that matter, I haven't received a marketing email in about a week.

Maybe I'll resubsrcibe.  And thanks for the link.  I watched the video.  Learned almost nothing.

I really enjoyed those - it was great meeting people and I often got to talk to officers.  My experience has never been a focus on private tours (I've seen more of those on Princess) and it's great to put faces to names.  

1 minute ago, billc23 said:

When I arrived on the Solstice the head butler greeted me because he had been our butler on many sailings. I asked about the return of butlers for SS and he told me that this is the first Solstice sailing that the dedicated butlers are back for the sky suites. He also said they do not have full butler staffing yet for the sky suites so room service may be needed to help out on busy mornings. Now, there are 44 SS with only 2 butlers dedicated to those and the head butler will be helping out too.

 

I have not asked any passengers about their butler service but I have observed that the Michael club staff is not being burdened with requests and never heard anyone complain about the lack of a butler when chatting in the retreat areas. I think this is different than the team model that has upset passengers but I am in an upper suite with a butler so I have no first hand experience.  The official line from the Retreat manager is that butlers are back for the SS on the Solstice. I do wonder if the full complement of butlers are back on any of the ships at this time and if they will increase the numbers in the future. 

interesting.  That to me, still sounds like head butler, and if they're saying it's back to dedicated, that's kind of misleading.  

4 minutes ago, billc23 said:

See my post #78. No change from then.

What you described is the head butler model, not the back to dedicated butler model. What I was asking is if your head butler has an idea of when the Solstice will get dedicated butlers back.  We're in a sky suite from Sydney to Vancouver, and my head butler on Beyond said S class ships will have dedicated butlers in late April.  So that was my question.

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear.

7 hours ago, billc23 said:

Solstice, b4b, Hong Kong to Vancouver. 

Would you be able to ask your butler (or head butler if in a Sky) if there's a date for dedicated butlers to be back?  Thanks much

3 hours ago, billc23 said:

I’m on all way to Canada. I’m in a suite. 

Which cruise are you on?  If you want to take this to email:  abby at genandabby dot com

3 minutes ago, sixpackeddie said:

I hope the butlers are in place by then! 

I hope someone can report back this week, since I have conflicting information.

2 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

This brings up something I've been wondering. For my first Celebrity cruise, I matched with my Royal status of Platinum making me Select on Celebrity. Since then between cruises on X and Power Ups, I'll be Elite on Celebrity after my July solo cruise in Aqua (8 night cruise with double Aqua points plus the 5 for Go Green). I don't know that I'll cruise Royal again...or at least not before they make the points merge, but if I did, would I qualify for Diamond on Royal?

If you're elite on Celebrity you should be Diamond on Royal as long as the accounts are linked.  

32 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 With the exception of Silversea that is in place today.  We were Diamond on Royal Caribbean when we took our first Celebrity cruise where we had Elite status.   Granted we were Elite with 0 Captains Club points but we received all of the perks the same as all others who were elite.  No you do not get "points" on Celebrity for nights sailed on Royal, but as your status on Royal goes up, so does you status on Celebrity, to a certain point and vice versa.

 

I thought that once you hit Elite on X or Diamond on Royal, you get the other, but there you stay.  To move up you have to sail the actual line.

5 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

 

As for the stroller, have you tried to train a cat to walk on a leash? It’s a safer way for Bug to get around the halls than walking free or being carried.

My niece has a leash trained cat.  She was feral originally.  Sweetest cat ever.  My sister's cats hate her.

On 3/9/2024 at 11:10 AM, CruisingTheWaves said:

I believe we have a butler back in Sky Suite on Apex. We of course have a dedicated stateroom attendant who we haven’t formally met yet. We have met our butler, I asked her “are you our butler?” And she said “yes ma’am!” And then we received a card with a “Retreat Concierge” team of 3 people that appears to be all concierge for all suites. We met one of them in the embarkation lounge before boarding. So right now it appears Apex has butlers back in Sky Suites. 

 

7 hours ago, sixpackeddie said:

Just got off Apex on Saturday and spoke to the retreat manager and confirmed sky suite dedicated butlers have not been put back in place as of yet. 

Ok, I'm confused.  I was also told on the Beyond that the Apex was getting their butlers at the end February.

10 hours ago, billc23 said:

Great! Looking forward to meeting you. As an aside, the basic quality of the meat and fish is improved from my Ascent sailing in January. 

If you're staying on it will be nice to meet you.  We join next week in Singapore and are on through Vancouver.  Sky suite on the 2nd two, got a move up accepted to a Royal Suite on the first.

If you're in a suite, maybe we can share a meal.

1 minute ago, kasowell2 said:

Did I miss any?
Reflection

Great - that means S class are on the way - we're on the Solstice next month.  Maybe ....

I can't edit the post, but it will be there next week, I promise!

I think I'm going to, every Saturday, post a list of where dedicated butlers have been reported.

Today:

Ascent,

Apex,

Beyond

Edge

Did I miss any?

While this sucks, and I do think you deserver more than 100.00 each OBC (either more OBC or some specialty dinners), I think the term deceit may be an overstatement.  Remember, sometimes the effects of malice are indistinguishable from those of incompetence.

Maybe push the retreat concierges for more OBC or specialty?  They have some ability to do stuff.

5 minutes ago, george_sf said:

There are 2 penthouse suites on the ship. A guarantee for 2 rooms is "selling it." (Some ships have over 100 Sky Suites. Those are "guarantees." ) Also, these reservation types are not available to average passengers and not available to travel agents. 

 

Also, we asked specifically - "Did this other reservation come in after we were assigned the room?" The STAR manager says they don't know and they can't find out. Our BS meter went high again.  

I'm not disputing what you're saying at all.  I was just trying to clarify that they do sell guarantees into specific suite categories, not just W "suite guarantees".  Although as you say, there are only 2 Penthouses, so why would, if they were both sold, offer a guarantee?  As I said, that's beyond me.  Just because it makes no sense whatsoever doesn't mean they wouldn't do it.

I'm so sorry this happened to you, but it is indeed possible to book a guarantee room for a specific suite category.  In 2022, we booked a Sky Suite guarantee.  I know that's the lowest suite but it wasn't a W it was a sky suite.  So i think it possible to book a guarantee in. specific suite category - although why they'd do it for the very limited penthouse is beyond me.  

3 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

The only thing that can usually be done is to identify a "better" cabin at least $1 more than you paid and upgrade to it paying the difference.   Of course the upgrade will be at the prevailing rate/promo for that category.  Sometimes if there has been a dramatic price drop you can get a much better cabin for a small $$.

 

Other than that there's nothing.

And if you booked out far enough, I imagine you'll lose the tips, and if in suite to a better suite the OBC, so be sure to factor that in.