abbydancer2003

Very sound advice. We had an aft on the Star Princess on our first Antarctic cruise, and it was fantastic. Not that when seeing the glaciers in the Beagle channel, we had the naturalist on, describing the glaciers and about 6 minutes later, they'd come into view. But we could see them on both sides.

The Dutch Pancake House is my go-to in Aruba. It's a great choice.

I was told Apex is next week. E class is first in any case, so I'd think by April they'll be there. I think it would be useful for folks to post here when they get on a ship and have a dedicated butler, ie help everyone track the roll out and their own cruises.

Yes. We ask for regular water, but there was some Evain there, and maybe San Pelligrino. I'm boarding another ship in 4 weeks. If you want, I'll ask, but I don't think it will be a problem.

Why? You'll have a butler. They will get you everything you need. As as been said many times here in the last month - the butlers are coming back. The E class roll out has started. And in 3 head butler only cruises, we have yet to need to fetch anything.

They are bringing the butlers back and by December you should have your butler. Last data I have is the rollout has started and should be on all ships by June. So you'll be fine.

I thought I'd replied to this earlier to subscribe. We got off when you got on. We liked Luminae, but they were better on the Apex about bring food from main or Blu. We did it one night, but we had to special order the night before. Also several times staff, when I asked about a special dining request, they had to check (usually could do it, though). On Apex it was always just done. And it's too bad you couldn't salvage your Eden reservation. We went, and Rozi's wife was our server. She was lots of fun - reminded me of the actress/rapper Awkwafina in her role in Crazy Rich Asians. The bar staff in the retreat (Anne Marie and Emily were great - we miss them).

You'll have a regular butler. They're coming back in early March (I was told this by the Assistant Waiter who was my last dedicated butler - he's going back to his butler job then).

We had one in December. We loved it too!

At this point, I'd talk to the the concierges, they're pretty helpful. Let them know you haven't seen/met your head butler.

Thanks, I just read most of it yesterday, as I was on a cruise myself. I enjoyed it and it reminded me why, if I ever do another Antarctic drive-by it will be on Princess, rather than Celebrity.

We asked for, and got, potato chips every afternoon. Our head butler arranged it. This was Beyond last week.

It does. I was just there.

A point I forgot to mention earlier. When we met our room steward/retreat host, I asked about the minibar, and if we could get my sodas of choice. They were there later in the day. I later found out he'd just called the head butler, and he provided them. So I had no need of the head butler on embarkation day, but I had his card if I did need anything.

You'll probably have a dedicated butler if you're going in June. And as for "tests" - nobody here knows. At this point, Celebrity probably doesn't know.

Not necessarily. I didn’t meet ours til the second day and he turned out to be outstanding.

If you get George you’ll be well taken care of.

Some are coming back, but I’m sure some have moved on. A butler told new friends of ours that his friends who had been laid off were called about returning.

Terry, thanks for this. We were on the Apex in December, and had a somewhat different experience. We met our head butler when we dropped our bags, and he made sure the soda we wanted was there. He also arranged for coffee every morning, which was delivered by one of two different people. We don't use the butler a lot anyway, and he was helpful in the rare time we needed him. Next was 12 days in the Connie. Our head butler was very visible, and we'd call him on mornings we wanted coffee, and a specific room service person would deliver it, and offer to pour. When we wanted a small party in the room for with friends traveling with us, he arranged it, and the food was delivered by both our room service guy and him. I just disembarked the Beyond and our head butler seemed to be hurt when we didn't call him. I was heading to the lounge to ask a question (we were having issues with our phone) I ran into him and he seemed hurt that I didn't call him. His face lit up later when I asked him to bring my sister a sangria (she's got torn tendons so not very mobile right now). From our perspective, we haven't seen a service disruption, but I know others have. Maybe if they'd been more consistent, they wouldn't have had to back pedel. That said, I'm happy for the butlers getting their jobs back, as midcruise I ran into our last dedicated butler, who's now an assistant waiter, but will have his butler job back next month.

Hi I'll have more tonight, but some quick things. Yes, there's some creaking in our room. Not enough to bother me, but someone in a Magic Carpet suite reported lots of it. George is from India, and for all intents and purposes might have been our dedicated butler. And they are definately doing the roll out on Edge class. No idea when S or M will start.

I just finished a midterm that was hanging over my head, so here's my wrap up. The first leg of our trip home left Tampa at 12:30, so we had lots of time. We had a last breakfast in Luminae (something we always do) and headed to the lounge. Jioro was out with a bad back, so I missed having him kick me off a ship for the 4th time. Instead, around 9:10 Penelope told us we had to leave. I'd texted Arie to ask if there was facial recognition and he said yes, but it was at the customs stand so we did have to show our passports. No matter, it only took about 10 minutes all told. We grabbed our bags, and headed out. We decided tto try for a Lyft ride, and it was only about 10 minutes before our driver came. She was friendly and we talked about how she got free casino cruises. Tampla airport was also easy, and we were soon waiting at our gate. We flew to Chicago, and then to San Francisco. The only interesting thing was that our plane to SF went back to the gate, as the captain said that we were over our fuel weight, and they had to remove one passenger. I've never heard of that, and I do wonder how they chose the passenger to remove. Odd. Some notes. First, what I learned about the upcoming dry. dock. Things will be refreshed, carpets, paint etc. Also they are converting some of the back rooms (family verandas maybe?) to sky suites, so they are extending Luminae a bit. I believe they'll take out the back wall, and move it further into the dining room. They did that to the Infinity and there are pictures around. They're also changing Michael's Club a bit. I'm not sure if they're adding the food area. We did have a very nice time on the cruise, and the staff was amazing as always. If they bring back the longer cruises on her, I wouldn't hesitate to book again. Thanks to all who followed. I have some notes from my current cruise on the Beyond, which I will be updating tonight, and then I'll do a live on the Solstice in March.

It's a max of 10 people per cruise, and it has to be someone associated with someone in a suite. Given the number of suites, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't notice anything.

Greetings from the midpoint. We're currently in our room watching The Holdovers, while we wait for our 8:30 reservation at Fine Cut. Our Luminae Maitre'd says he'll stop by. We'll see. First, what I've done. In Sint Maarten, I went with a couple to Maho beach (the one at the airport). We walked around for a while and then came back. In Sint Lucia, I'd booked a tour called the Taste of St. Lucia through a tour company. It was a visit to an old house that had a botanical garden, and some historical stuff and then we went to the kitchen area for some tastings. Today was Barbados, and I just walked out of the terminal for a bit, but it looks like there was nothing close, so I went back to the ship. One note, we were parked behind a Costa ship, and it was a long walk out. They do offer free shuttles. Both yesterday and today we were delayed in leaving due to medical emergencies. Yesterday, I know it was a broken hip. Probably the same today. Tonight, when we started the movie, it asked for whose (is that spelled right?). account to use. We stopped it, because it's been quite a while since I've watched one of theirs, so I tried calling the concierges to make sure we wouldn't be charged. They didn't answer, so I figured I'd run up there. At the elevator I ran into our head butler, who asked where I was going. I told him, and he said no I wouldn't be charged and why didn't I call him about it. So the good ones, still want to make sure we get the service we paid for. I think that it will be about 3 weeks on this ship for the dedicated butlers to come back, but if you're on, and you get George, he's very responsive. Two more ports, two sea days and it's home to prepare for my mega trip in March.

I'm on the Beyond and the streaming isn't 100%. I assume I'll be home for this webinar.

We’re on Beyond, and met our head butler on day 2. He’s been very available ever since. He told me edge class first. He also said S class by late April. I also ran into an assistant waiter who’d been our last dedicated butler last spring. He’s returning to his butler job early next month. Possibly the second week of March.