cltcruisers123

On 9/22/2021 at 7:21 PM, Seany527 said:

The Winner

 
So who does a better job? Is there a better value between the two brands? It’s not an easy answer but I hope the information above will be helpful to you when making a selection.
Personally, with a choice between the two, I would choose the Haven over the Retreat. The Haven wins in both overall experience and value. Here’s why...

I believe Celebrity already does an amazing job and excels at service and food throughout their ships and in their main dining rooms. Moving from a traditional cabin to a suite offers little overall benefit. The experience is already so refined, it’s difficult to improve upon. Of course, everything always has room for some improvement but overall, Celebrity gets it and provides a great cruise vacation no matter what price you pay or what room category you sail in.  I don’t see the additional perks Celebrity is offering in the Retreat as added value because I already enjoy the overall brand experience so much.

With Norwegian, comparing the traditional cabin to a suite, there is a huge step up. Norwegian also offers a good overall product but they do have more areas they can improve upon. Personalized service, food preparation and the like have always been enjoyable but when you move into the Haven, the cruise experience is taken to the next level. But, their true selling point is their ship within a ship experience.  You can have the choice to stay within the Haven complex with a limited number of guests, never venturing out until your cruise is over. If you do want to leave to attend a show or play trivia, the option is there for you, and that’s what cruising with Norwegian is all about…doing what you want, when you want to.  I guess that’s why they call if “Freestyle” cruising. 

 

I hope you enjoyed this comparison.  If you’ve sailed between these two lines, I’d love to hear what you think as well.

Fantastic review. We are just off the Apex in Retreat and we’ll be in the Haven on NCL Joy in April. Will come back to this and post some thoughts. 

14 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

After a great dinner at Lumimae, getting ready for the show, Tree of Life.

 

 

Regarding the crowds at Lumimae, there aren’t any. Certainly not at the times we have gone. Seems like less than when we were on the Edge in October. 

 

Our waiter is Hernando and his area is all the way to the front of the restaurant. While it is a little more crowded at the other end, by the entrance, it’s still only 1/4 to 1/3 full, at most. Few if any folks along the inside wall away from the window.

 

mac_tlc

Wanna say Hernando (from Colombia?) is who was phenomenal last week at making sure my vegan wife was taken care of. If you see him again tell him hi from the Collins. Thanks 

Other than the OBC you get, the deposit is drastically reduced as well when booking on the ship. Booked a Med cruise on the Beyond in the Retreat for next year and only had to put $200 down vs $900 otherwise.

7 hours ago, SHIP TRAVELER said:

How about Knob Creek?

Didn’t see any. Just recall Buffalo Trace, Makers and Woodford. They had more in Eden bar that I didn’t notice it. Lot of scotch and they did have Sinatra Jack Daniels too.

52 minutes ago, r2h2 said:

Any Eagle Rare on board?

None last week

The 730 show was tough to make with the speciality restaurants not opening until 6pm and we found ourselves mostly catching the 930 show. By that time I was pretty tired and caught myself following a sleep a few times during the shows. Would almost be perfect if they had some 5pm reservations for us early risers.

Hi - on the Mardi Gras in April and looking at booking the Sushi 101 class. Has anyone done this and what are your thoughts? Wife is vegan, so hopefully they can adjust to just vegetable/tofu ingredients for her. Thanks

4 hours ago, bnurick said:

Here we go!  Checked in and waiting to board. We were handed this letter that says more than 1% of crew/passengers tested positive on the last sailing.  To note, doesn’t say the ship name or sailing date.

On our Apex trip last week they only announced 3 people during cruise and we still got a similar letter on the 6th day. So it must be rampant in the crew. Otherwise we had a great experience and no complaints with any experiences or Celebrity.

Just ate there the other night with my vegan (allergies) wife and we had same concern. Our concierge let them know the day before and they had custom dinner set up for her. Their wasn’t a menu per se, but this was same for Fine Cuts, Eden, and Luminae and she never went hungry.

4 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

Decided to do sailaway in the Retreat Lounge— still chilly outside. A few pictures:

 

 

About a dozen folks here, I’ll get some pictures of the rest of the lounge when there are no people—- I don’t like to take and post pictures of folks unless they know.

 

mac_tlc

She’s the best! Ask her for a Don Julio Margarita on the Rocks. Drank several yesterday in the Retreat Lounge. Also if you look closely at the Coke Zero in the fridge it says Sin Azucar yep it’s the Mexico version. They ran out a day in and had to restock while we were in Conzumel.

13 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

And……. Here she is! 
We should be leaving in 15-20 minutes for our trek southward! 


 

EDIT: There were suppose to be some more pictures here but CC wants to post them upside down! UGH! 

 

 

Was on my balcony on the other side coming back in this morning, haha. Sure was cold! Enjoy your cruise, we loved the Apex and all the staff we met this week.

On 1/25/2022 at 10:47 AM, Beachin2 said:

The crowding issue is stopping us, and we are not even close to germaphobes. 

 

With the push for revenue (no surprise) you can almost be 100% sure that the entire suite area will be booked - any gaps filled by move up bids.  Can't justify the extra $ to sail in a crowd.  Maybe in a year or two, but not now.

On Apex in Retreat right now and not sure I’d say it’s crowded. Yes there are people in there, but main deck pool and Solarium seems even more crowded and there are only 1,200 folks on this cruise. Now imagine if this was a full ship and all the main areas would be overrun. I’m sticking to Retreat. I still remember how full ships were before Covid. 

15 hours ago, miched said:

There is no need for a sign to make up the cabin.  The attendants know when you are gone. 
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Haha so true! On Apex now and every single time we leave and come back for breakfast or dinner the room is done.

On 1/25/2022 at 10:21 AM, granddutchess said:

We will be sailing on the Silhouette at the end of March 2022.  Given the supply chain issues is it worth it to upgrade to the Premium Drinks Package?  Those who currently are on board are you finding that the cruise ship has the premium brands?  Want to see before I upgrade from the Classic Package to Premium.  Thank you so much for your comments.

On the Apex now and tbh the premium brands aren’t really that great, but most of the drinks I’ve seen are $12-15. Also the coffee, espressos, sodas, juices etc are all included too with premium (not sure if classic does). So I wouldn’t think of Premium as being premium brands.Definitely worth IMHO.

37 minutes ago, cbfb said:

They had caymus by the glass for $28 on Equinox a few weeks ago. 

Ohhh that’s not bad. $13 up-charge off premium package limit of $15. May be the way to go if heavy pours 😆.  Can get bottle at local grocery store for $88, 10% less if I buy half case and I get about 2.5 glasses out of bottle usually. 

51 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

Can't speak to Veuve Clicquot, but I was planning on buying Caymus on my recent NYE cruise on Summit & they apparently didn't have it anywhere due to "supply chain issues".

So could well be that not everything that is expected to be available will be available.

Caymus is solid too! Was thinking of bringing a bottle for the room as I’m sure if they had it on the ship it would be more expensive than what I can find it for locally.

Anyone happen to know if Veuve Clicquot is available by the glass on the Apex? Also, if so is it included in the premium drink package? 
 

Exciting! We’re on the Apex next week. Looking forward to your updates. Have they announced how many are sailing?

In the Retreat next weekend on the Apex. Definitely love to hear if it was crowded. Were you able to eat at Blu too? Thanks 

27 minutes ago, BennyBrun said:

Day 6

 

Do NOT miss the buffet extravaganza!!!!  Grilled to order meats!  MEATS!  MEATS!  I don’t think any other cruise line does this at their buffet!

Is this a everyday??? 🤤

23 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

Bypass the app and just go to the website.  Enter your booking information and you should be good to go.  That is how I spent the 330 out of our 450 in OBC.

Yep that worked! 👊

Just now, BennyBrun said:

Check back again!  If you just booked might be a system thing!l either that or might be sold out.  If you are looking at 3 night you might want to look at 4 night package.  Also call them to double check again to see if they can do it for you over the phone.

Thanks Benny will do!

BTW bourbon request…have you seen any Buffalo Trace onboard? Friend was on the Reflection over New Years and it was plentiful on that ship.

1 minute ago, SNJCruisers said:

If you purchase a 3+ night dining package you can only make your reservations once on board.  We got the 4 night for 165 pp, which is basically getting 1 night free since they are 55 per night.

Interestingly enough I don’t have any options to purchase anything in the app. Kind of different than what I’m used to with NCL and even Carnival has purchase options.

15 minutes ago, jwlane said:

Ditto.  By the end of 15 nites on Apex last July she was pretty disappointed in the limited offerings.  I've reached out ahead of our sailing on the 29th in hopes they can have more offerings.  That said, I'm reserving Fine Cut beause it looks like Benny's photos are showing many sides that she can choose.

Ha yeah, she normally ends up eating sides too a lot of times. Though, doubt she’ll eat the added fee worth. Menu will factor in whether I’ll need to get table for 1 on some of these 😢. 

1 minute ago, BennyBrun said:

Book Eden and Fine Cuts as soon as you get onboard.  Head over to to the guest relations area, in front of the iLounge there is a table set up to make dinning reservations on embarkation day.  The Eden and Fine Cuts prime dinning time goes really quick.  BTW the fine dinning on Celebrity is nothing like the fine dinning on NCL.  It is so much better.  They are so eager to please.  At Fine Cut I wanted the lobster tail entree and my waiter said he will be happy to have two lobster tail appear on my plate and with no extra entrée charge.

Oh great tip! Appreciate it. Been playing catch-up with Apex YouTube videos and so far everyone seems to love it too.
 

Wife is Vegan/plant based so having to run down those options across the menus. I see Blu has a Beyond Burger, so that’s something.