abbydancer2003

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.

Hello. My intention, when I boarded on Friday was to start a live from. However, because I have a class project to write, and other assignments, I decided instead to just do a thread where I'll post some observations, etc. And answe questions. But first, about this trip. My sister and I booked this 10 day Southern Caribbean a couple of years ago, when we realized the 2023 cruise we'd booked had a date conflict. (We ended up doing something different then). Our ports are St. Maarten, Saint Lucia, Barbados, Antigua and St. Kitts. Other than St. Maarten and sort of Barbados (right after they started sailing, so I couldn't really get past the terminal), they're all new. The other thing of note is that my sister (Beth) has two torn tendons on one ankle, so she's staying on the ship. We had tours booked in the new ports, and I've found a substitute. We're about 1/2 way through, and it's been very nice. We're in a Sky suite, so todays post will be about the butler service. We didn't meet our head butler until day 2, but he's been very visible since then. On day 3, we called him to bring us a continental breakfast, and he and a room service guy brought it. Starting the next day, we asked for a standing order of coffee and tea (no breakfast stuff) every day at 8:15. Yesterday, it didn't come, so we called the butler and it arrived around 8:30, Today, our dedicated room service person arrived on time. We're also getting daily potato chips so far. Yesterday, I ran into our last dedicated butler (Summit April 2023) - he's now an assistant waiter, but starting around the 2nd week of March, he'll have his butler job back. So, yes, in the next few months the sky suites are getting their butlers back, and it appears it will roll out from March to June. So we're overall happy. I'm up to about 6 staff members who I've sailed with before - Retreat manager (our concierge on the Silhouette), hotel manager (suite manager on Eclipse in 2019), assistant bar manager (our bartender and friend from Summit 2021), previously mentioned butler, and our waiter from both the Eclipse and Equinox, and one of the other butlers who recognised me. So far, so good.

I'm going to wrap this with some quick notes and pictures from our last 2 days of cruise, and trip home. After our two delightful sea days, we went to Cozumel. Our original plan was to go to a resort that Arie recommended, but there are serval ships here, and we figured it would be crowded, so we decided to just take a walk. We met around 10 am, after breakfast, and headed out. Once on shore, we found this in a courtyard. I love this sort of sign. Wandering through the area we found a small pyramid replica, with a small museum inside. And at the edge, the required sign. Following that, we found a store that sold coffee and chocolate. So we bought some whole bean coffee, vanilla for my sister, and a white chocolate bar. The store staff was very helpful with letting us taste the clocolate, and smell the coffee. It was good experience. On the way out of the area, we noticed a guy painting murals on the buildings. After that, we stopped at stall so Arie and Cheryl could buy some hats. We headed back to the ship, We agreed to meet Arie and Cheryl for lunch, where they had a Mexican buffet. Pretty good, but when I ask for Fajitas, they ended up pressing it into the tortilla, making it a fajita burrito. After that, we played Catan. The rest of the day was pretty much the same as others, we hung in our room, went to the Reflection Lounge, and hung out with them after their dinner. Dinner tonight was good, and Glen had the special creme brulee for dessert. I had a crepes suzette. Pretty good. After dinner, we went back to the room and watched a show on our Roku, which we connected. The next day was our last day. We didn't do much, except play Catan for the last time, go to the Reflection Lounge for last time, etc. After the reflection lounge, we packed until it was time to go to the show, which was Rock City. I've seen it a few times, but I still like it. After that, our last drink with Arie and Cheryl and then final dinner. The amuse bouce was a blue cheese macaroon, which may have been the best part of the dinner. For appitzers, we chose a cheese, which is a raw milk cheese, that was pretty yucky. We couldn't eat much. My main was an oxtail entree but with filet, I didn't like it and Glen didn't like his much either. We agreed that it was the worst meal we've ever had, and considering the grand total, they're not doing too badly. We went back put our bags out just a little after 10 and went to bed early as we're up early tomorrow. Some closing thoughts, last day, and a couple of answers late.

Connie Day 10 Sea day 4 - Sunday 2 Today is the second of two sea days before we get to Cozumel. For something new to do, we decided to go the continental breakfast at Michael’s Club. Once I got there, I realized that the only coffee they had was from the machine, meaning it was espresso roast, which I only like in lattes. I mentioned to Michelle, the server, that maybe if I went to Luminae, they’d give me a cup of brewed coffee to go. She said she’d call them. Soon a pot of brewed coffee appeared, and I got my good coffee! In the middle of this, we got a text from Arie about playing Splendor and Fluxx after the captains event in the theater at 11. We don’t eat lunch until after 1, so that should be fine. (Splendor plays faster than Catan) Soon after that there was an announcement from the cruise director about an “Over 18 only” show at 10:45. He announced that if you wanted to go, you have to have a “open mind”, at which point everyone in the Club cracked up. We met Arie & Cheryl around noon, and played. Arie won both games, and Splendor was close. We kind of let him win Fluxx because lunch was getting pretty close to ending. I started with the burrata salad, and had the main dining fried chicken for my main. It was 2 boneless pieces with Jonny Cakes (a little thicker than we make at home), fries, and a coleslaw that had too much onion for me. For dessert I had one of my favorites, key lime pie. After lunch I went back to the room to work on my class. Since tonight was our second formal night, we dressed before our Reflections lounge meet up. Tonight was Music and Mixology, an event we’ve been to once before. We enjoyed it, and started other people dancing after we did it. Following that there was a second Officers thing in Michael’s Club. Tonight we did meet the Captain, and we talked about his upcoming vacation home to Venice. Tonight’s show was The Chernov Brothers. They did their very own two person variety show. They are acrobats, clowns, swords etc. They were terrific and I’m not sure what they’re doing on a cruise ship, not touring the country. Since they are Ukrainian, they ran a film tribute to Stand with Ukraine. It was (and hopefully still is) gorgeous. We headed back to the room for a little while, and then went dinner. I had the “crunchy” asparagus, and then the rack of lamb. It was excellent as always. For dessert, we shared a coconut tapioca. I had most of it, and gave Glen the orange chocolate tulle, which is gone from the picture. The passionfruit sorbet was good, tapioca - OK> <6687> After dinner we went to the adult show. It was a little burlesque, and the costumes were a little risqué, but the story was pretty tame (evil witch enslaves sailors on her island, love triumphs. I'd have given it an R rating, Glen PG 13. It was about the same level of "adult" as the Rocky Horror Picture Show. In other words, not really, and you didn't need a terribly open mind for it. So that ended our nice sea day. Cozumel and one more sea day left.