msweebee

Thanks to each of you for taking the time to post your insightful information and tips. My husband and I have sailed out of NJ and NYC both several times ; we are taking 20+ kids & g'kids with us in June to Bermuda and it will be their first time departing from NYC. When we "published" the date, cabin, ship info for each of them we also laid out what they would see during the sail away but not nearly so complete. Enough time later to worry about where luggage is and what's for dinner - first up the wonderful departure in a harbor with views like no other!

Once again, thanks for sharing your information!

Welcome back and I have always found you have so much to offer and are very helpful in replying to questions! Pretty sure you were on Reflection last year at Thanksgiving when we were and you had been such a help to me w/info and your thoughts on the best of St John when I was looking for something different.

We are doing Reflection again this year over Thanksgiving and have not seen you on Roll Call so assume you are not. Will miss you. We were the couple who are your neighbors just to south of your hometown.

We also have cruised a couple times w/Andy and family and always found him to be a wealth of information on these boards and shipboard. Congratulations!

Bobbi (and Bob)

We are also sailing on 11/21 and received an email from the shore based concierge on Monday afternoon.

Celebrity definitely has my email;we leave home in the morning and there has been nothing from them. I even have been checking "junk" mail just to make sure I did not miss if it went astray. Certainly if they can't keep up with the limited numbers now it certainly seems like another nice touch that will be a fond memory for CS and above suites. Bobbi

Has the contact email from M/C Concierge or Shoreside Concierge gone away recently? Our phone and emails are correct on reservation and Captains Club info as of a few days ago when I was able to log in - appears website (for me) is again down yesterday and today. We sail on Sat 11/21 and have not heard a peep as of today. There is a specific request I would make for this cruise but I am unable to locate info for an email for X shoreside for Reflection.

I will ask CClub for contact info when I call in the morning for them to fix my husbands name for the 3rd time since May. We are back to him being a III rather than Sr. which locks me out of website. Luckily last time it was fixed I completed checkin and printed immediately. Any info on an email would be appreciated. Thanks, Bobbi

Last 3 cruises we have spent considerable time in MC and enjoyed. And yes I agree the concierge could not always keep up with requests or problems with just the PH,RS and CS and apparently recently can no longer keep up with the precruise communication so obviously X will have to add staff to keep the original MC suite users satisfied. I can imagine how it could turn into standing in line at guest relations type scenario - oh horror! Many occasions in Michael's Club every seat was filled during predinner hours especially when a special event was going on. We sail in 1 week and this is the first time I have not been contacted by concierge or even "shore side" concierge. Email is correct as I get all other communications and have verified that phone number is correct.

And how in the world will concierge handle personally escorting pax to exit ship when tendering or on disembarkation morning?? On last M class sailing the morning of departure it was standing room only and trust me many of those in MC were not in suites - it was a 14 day so there was plenty of time to get to know by name or sight nearly every suite guest entitled to use MC. I guess time will tell and I will try to reserve judgement until I am impacted on future cruise in January and April....

Husband has been made III rather than normal Sr by X. Today for the 4 time in 3 weeks Capt Club removed III. When she had me log back in his name was correct so I did Online checkin Immediately and printed Xpress Pass. We will see how it looks in a couple days when I am ready to finalize excursions and other reservations or if I have to call again and have III deleted again.

Hopefully this change after final payment will now "stick" and the IT problem will be in the past!

Good luck to the rest of you.

We have sailed both CS and RS (never PH or Sky) and have found very little difference in service provide by Butler. Actually have had better service in CS (and best butler ever) in CS. Please know that we are low maintenance passengers and book for space rather than service. After an experience in first RS several years ago when I asked 2 days in advance for table to be set for breakfast for 6 you would have thought that I was asking for the impossible. Luckily hosting cheese and wine party predinner for 18 went much better!

The bath in RS is awesome as compared to bath in CS, in particular the CS shower is near impossible to get out of if you are 5'1". The RS master bath has plenty of space, perhaps near size of standard cabin, and we have found each has been well maintained even in the oldest of S class ships. The extra half bath is wonderful in RS. And both CS and RS have a separate bedroom which is what keeps me coming back to X now. A suite on other ships (including X's Sky) is not a suite if it is one large room to us! I am sure I have missed some 2 room suites but also the smoking policy is a deciding factor for us. We have yet to ever use the "tub" on balcony in RS and consider it a waste of real estate and would be better used for outdoor dining or more room around the lounger(s).

All that said I can do either CS or RS depending on pricing and our prior RS experience has been on S class since we prefer midship and location on M class is low (6) and towards aft but we are booked on Infinity in RS early 2016. But best perk of all has been Michael's Club; we look forward to Luminae in Nov after being bored with mostly specialty dining the last several cruises although there are a few items in main dining room that are standouts but not like in the old days when we started cruising.

No matter what you book, ENJOY and perhaps ask what your Butler can do for you to besides walking you to a reserved seat at show.

We have been in both RS you asked about and 1239 along with most of the Celebrity Suites on Sky deck. They have all been very quiet suites and the location near the elevator is perfect in our opinion. A few times we did get noise it was from large passenger groups (meaning 6+ walking together) having a good time or kids running ahead of Mom or Dad and yelling back at them. Even then they have to be pretty loud and you have to be pretty near the door to be bothered by it. I would expect that you will enjoy the prime real estate for the duration very much.

I will additionally note that most CS suites on M class are very quiet also and foot traffic to the elevators is not a problem. B4 moving to the "sweet" life we always booked balcony cabins as near to elevator and center of ship as possible and found them all more than acceptable! Bobbi .

We are looking forward to the upgraded menu in Luminae, as we along with many others miss the Michael Roux days which made us X converts.

Thanks for taking the time to report your conversation. We have been booking suites for the separate bedroom and additional space but now truly a new dining experience awaits us also.

It has been rare when we have not found something we liked on the MDR menu but a freshening of those menus will be welcomed by all I think. Even in Murano etc some changes would be most welcome too.

Thank you. We have anytime and are waitlisted for early.

And you can have your TA request a table for 2 for early dining if you get your waitlist it cleared before your cruise. You can also go to dining room soon after boarding and request to change - there will be a card in your stateroom confirming your reservation - but sometimes it may be totally diff than you T/A confirmed!

Maître ds are pretty helpful for the most part. If you have not had select before on Celebrity I would suggest you try with an open mind and the best thing to do is log into Xwebsite now and make your reservations before you board just in case your waitlist for early does not clear. Print and take a list with you of your reservations and expect confusion the first evening you depart!

I have found lately that Select (or anytime as you called it) has been opening earlier than the 1st seating if eating early is your objective. Have a great time! Bobbi

I think this will cause a degrade of service for people who eat in the MDR. These ships can only carry so many crew members due to space. Part of the higher end dinning experience is better, more personal service. To get this waite staff has to come from someplace and that place is what's left of the MDR.

 

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Are you indicating that you think that passengers traveling in suites have not been eating meals in MDR or specialty venues and being served by wait staff in those dining rooms. Or perhaps you believe that they have all meals served in their suites by butler? No matter whether one eats in MDR, Blu, new suite DR or any of the specialty restaurants all passengers are served by wait staff. I don't recall that X is increasing the number of suites and thus needing to accommodate more suite passengers newly created dining room.

The only way I can rationalize that your statement has any credibility is that an abundant number of wait staff is standing around waiting for suite occupants to arrive for a meal and in the meantime many or most of the suite passengers have chosen to eat in MDR...... Perhaps I missed something in your post but the same number of passengers still will be served 3 or more meals per day and most likely the crew will remain the same and complaints will continue on lack of service. Personally the only place we have noticed a decline in service is in the MDR (both fixed and select) over the several years for wine service. We attribute that to the increasing number of wine packages sold or "free" and passengers ordering wine by the glass vs bottle.

We have almost always upgraded to premium bev package and very frequently select wines that fall above the limit of that package so you are presented a bill for the difference. Like it or not, once an additional tip is added to the check the sommelier(s) are quick to locate you the next evening regardless of ordering by glass or bottle.. Many may find this unfair by their standards but again a case of "you get what you pay for" and that sometimes not being demanding (because you paid good money for your vacation), smiling and being cordial to your servers and an additional gratuity paves the way for exceptional service. All will be served, just some may get better service than others.

We found many years ago that a table for 2 gets much quicker and more personalized service than the larger tables (unless you are seated with the Captain of course) from what we have seen when overlooking fixed seating. We do not feel service is any better in any current specialty restaurants (especially Tuscan fleet wide) but frequently there is more hovering. With a large table you better allow 2 hours where a small table can partake in many courses very leisurely in less than 1.5 hour. IMHO, and I apologize if I took your opinion out of context, that "wolf" if being cried in advance of any first hand reports and creates any opportunity for perceived problems much like the "problems" that were going to be created by building a new dining room while ship was in cruise mode rather than dry dock.

We are looking at the Solstice cruise out of Seattle. The stops are Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Victoria BC. I am wondering which one of these ports are tendered due to the size of the Solstice and which ones are docked.

Did Solstice in 2013 and docked at all stops except Juneau. Going again in July hope it has changed.

Also cruised on Solstice in June 2013 and Juneau showed docked for all departures until very near or after final payment date was due. Our mid June cruise showed tendered for several weeks and then flipped back to docked - and we did dock in Juneau and all other ports. But in the meantime I changed excursions for some of our group of 20 (all kids and g'kids) to later times or with X rather than private as the first couple of cruises that were tendered reported delays in tendering and missing departures on private tours. It is hard to tell who did miss and who may have exaggerated the situation since the private tours keep close tabs on ship's schedule. As I recall the dock for tenders is very easily accessible for tours and private cars.

The way it seemed to work out in 2013 was alternating weeks were docked. Our experience in tendered ports in many locations is that after the initial rush of sometimes less than orderly and or polite "entitled" passengers rushing the line trying to get off first or before their number is called it that it becomes quicker and calmer. Not knowing if you have tendered before, it is helpful to know that the first couple tenders are for shore support crew and equipment, then they will take the earliest of the Celebrity excursions. By all means be where you need to be in order to pick up your tender tickets Enjoy your visit. Bobbi

QUOTE: When we first boarded we were given a list of times for food/drink in MC. They served Forte teas, coffee, espresso, etc. with pastries and bagels in the morning – 8:00-10:30 AM. Canapés were served between 1-3 PM and plates of 4 different canapés were served in the evening between 5:30-9 PM (the mini beef Wellingtons and the stuffed hearts of palm were my favorites). There are coolers in MC, 2 of which are unlocked and contain water (small and large), Perrier and sodas. These were open from 800 AM-1140 PM. The other coolers have beer, which the staff will get out for you.

The Michael’s Club Bar Hours were listed as: 8:00-10:30 AM/12:00-3:00 PM/5:00-11:45 PM.

It does seem as though MC is evolving and each one has it's own personality at present. It will be interesting if after April all of MCs fall into the same pattern and what you experience on one ship will be duplicated on your next voyage...

The evening canapés certainly look attractive in photo and sound better than anything we have yet to see in MC on several other ships so that is a very pleasant surprise. The limited bar hours are new to me but with so many having beverage packages it should not inconvenience anyone at all. The non serving hours appear to be over meal times which make sense if they are primarily using dedicated bartender/servers now.

On our past 14 day cruises MC staffing has varied and from observation it was not clear if concierge was requesting particular staffing or if it was luck of the draw. I do know that one Concierge did request a server not to return after a few days. The server was excellent in MC and in other ship's venues; he/she was just not able to cope with a couple of guests in manner acceptable to Concierge. Neither my husband or I ask a lot of personal questions on how the operation of things work but it is amazing what may be shared when they are frustrated. A perfect meld of personalities between the Concierge, bartender and server(s) will go a long way for a positive experience for MC guests along with the stability of seeing the same staff most times - oh, rather sounds like Cheers as OP mentioned!

A couple of our fav events in MC have been Caviar and Champagne tasting, Sushi making demo, and the evening with entertainment. But again events have varied from ship to ship for us so far. And we loved Indulgence and OP did one of the very best descriptions that I have seen on CC. Bobbi

ps We loved Indulgence and think it is a good addition and hope a couple more "experience" type venues pop up in the future on X.

And to someone who wondered, I was on M class so the entirety of Michaels was easily seen. I understand it would be different on S class.

Having been in Michael's Club on S class ships (2) and most recently on M class Summit, I do not believe that passengers walking by on Summit can see all areas unless you are stopping to look in every window or door so it hard to know the actual number of suite passengers using at any given time. S class, in my estimate, would be that you can see 50% of seats or slightly less if stopping to look in the one available door.

Consider that Michaels Club, on Summit, is located where most guests going to and from the theatre pass by and it seems it may not have occurred to some that suite guests may be enjoying dinner or already seated in theatre during what might be considered prime time....

MC certainly has time frames where it may look underutilized however on multiple occasions we (or 1 of us waiting on the other) have walked in where most every 2 person area is occupied.

My estimation on prior years of sailing where MC was public that there is more utilization now than before except in the rare instance when there was some special entertainment was in Michael's Club. We were a big fan of MC before because it was mostly a "hideaway" bar for 2 or may 6 if there was a crowd! Bobbi

TA does not seem to have anything to do with you travel documents for many years now. Once you book your Celebrity reservation number, you log into Celebrity website and add your reservation to your page. After that you add in your personal information on arrival/ departures times, passport number, credit card number etc. When complete you can print your Xpress Pass and at about 45 days prior you can order or print your luggage tags for your upcoming cruise. Even if you get to dock without your xpress pass it really is not a problem - takes just a few minutes longer to check in.

We have used brick and mortar agency, various online agencies and last several cruises booked with a big box warehouse membership club and found execution of travel documents are all the same. We are very happy with booking with membership club and their OBC and their response to any question or change has been more than efficiently handled. If this is the first time you have used alternate agency, please know that their deadline for final payment is prior (several days to a couple weeks) to Celebrity's final payment date and when you might be expecting to make final payment.

Well I am one of those suite people. Can anyone here tell me about the specialty dinner perk. I've read that suite passengers were invited to dine at one of the specialty restaurants the first night. Does that count as the perk night?

If this doesn't count, is there a way to book a reservation for the free night before the cruise?

 

 

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We have not been specifically invited (although booking tables are set up in multiple locations) to dine in specialty on 1st night but you can certainly make a reservation online. I have always just made specialty dining reservations we wanted online prior to boarding and have the pricing adjusted to N/C after dining onboard. If you are CS or above Michael's concierge will assist you with this once onboard and also aid in getting your preferred time if it was not available either by online booking or your butler. It has been my experience that Michael's Concierge does have the ability to get things done! Also if CS or above you will get an email prior to boarding or at least that has been my experience the last 3 cruises and I think you will find she/he most accommodating, personable, and wishing to make your cruise as enjoyable as she/he can.

An alternate may be making a call to Captain's Club and they may well have the info on booking the "perk" night reservation in advance without billing it to you credit card before you board. I personally have not tried this but have found that calls to the Capt Club number have been very helpful in the past and without the problems that seem to be reported from calling reservation department..... Good Luck Bobbi

$5 per person each way for a 2-minute ride :(

Perhaps on the next cruises the word got around that it was better to take a waiting taxi for the same price either to anywhere in town with out the additional walk! I have to say it was an odd place the shuttle dropped us off!

I would not call Ante enthusiastic. He's nice, but he's not a "Glad to see you!" type at all.

That is an understatement! He certainly was not at all enthusiastic and never glad too see anyone that I noticed! I am sure I ran into him on an S class ship in Blu a year or so ago or his clone....

A less than hospitable host makes it seem as though it is an imposition that you show up for dinner. We always walked up smiling, never once asked for a specific table, for any extra service or special preparation. Every where else on Summit we were greeted with smiles, great hospitality, and professionalism so I do believe that there had to have been some other problem(s) going on other than our showing up. Note that the few dinners we did have there were good but prep and service were no better than in MDR and I did notice that many patrons ordered "off menu" and requested items from MRD menu with no problem.

The weather will vary on each cruise. We were on Summit Sept 7-21 and found the weather very much as predicted by national weather forecasting websites and as accurate as it can be 2 weeks in the future. Best advice will be to take clothing that can be layered and a jacket that is rain resistant.

Summit is an older ship but in common areas is in very good to reasonable condition. We found ships staff was outstanding! Cabins show some wear, including 2 different suites we were in - one of the I can only describe as "in serious disrepair". I can only assume that suites will be refurbished and upgraded before or at the "Suite Benefit" date in April 2015. Other cabins I have absolutely no knowledge of since this was our first sailing on Summit or when it is scheduled for refurbishment. I will add that if you are considering a CS suite and you have been on one on and S class ship the living area seating is not comparable at all.

The Summit sails a unique route in Canada and New England and it was a great trip. Research the ports you are visiting and know what you plan to do ahead of time; from my experience the shore excursions were mostly sold out by embarkation day or at least for the more preferred excursions. If you are booked, sign up on roll call for the appropriate date and get an idea of what is available for private excursions and check out Trip Advisor for each port. You may also want to read the rolls calls preceding and after your booked cruise for more info. "Lurking" is perfectly ok - and questions are ok although frequently someone may make snide comments about lurkers (those who read/participate in roll calls when not booked on that particular sailing) but don't be offended just gather all the info you can find!

Recognize that some things change from cruise to cruise on the same ship as they move into different schedule. Go with an open mind rather than "great expectations" and you will be a happy cruiser and each day you will discover something new!

Tip when you feel the service is warranted - be it for room service, cocktail lounge, etc. when you order an item that is charged there is always a 15% gratuity added on the upcharge portion. It has been our understanding from servers/staff that when they ring in a drink that is 0 charge they are paid the appropriate percentage. I/we mostly either added $1-2 dollars on upcharge on Premium wine on ticket or in cash - I am not saying it is at all necessary but it a couple of bars it did get us good service each time we appeared. Even in a few locations where we did not tip additional service was still more than satisfactory.

Room service (before our era of suites) we would tip delivery person extra ($again1-2) if it was not our stateroom attendant. Now room service is delivered by butler and he/she is tipped at end of cruise.

Tipping is indeed a personal preference and you will find that in all the specialty restaurants they include an additional line for additional tip. It is truly discretionary for all - and all cultures are unique in there own customs.

We will be on the Constellation soon and have the Classic drink package. Wondering if we should upgrade to the Premium, but in order to do that we would like to see a wine and bar menu list with prices. Anyone know where a recent menu might be posted? TIA.

Recently (Sept 21) off of Summit. If you are concerned about the selection of wine by the glass on Classic, you will be better off upgrading to Premium. Drinks, including cocktails, water, juice and coffee do not seem to be an issue on Classic package but we found that in order to get a wine that was acceptable to us we upgraded to Premium package and still ended up paying an upcharge on most occasions for wine. Not every wine is offered in every bar or venue - each seem to have their own "menus" but there is some overlap. For example, in the MRD and Blu we could get everything that was available at Cellar Masters and more. For the 14 days it was $300+ for the 2 of us and if ordering bottles we would have spent far more than that so the extra $1-2 dollars was a not an issue but be aware that Normandie (Summit specialty restaurant) had a more upscale wine selection by the glass and was priced accordingly and you will not leave there with a $1-2 per glass upcharge.

Please note that we are primarily Vodka and Gin (premium selections) and there was nothing we asked for that was not available on the Premium package so we considered the upgrade to Premium from Classic (free on promo) a very good value.

I have good friends sailing with us on Silhouette in January, and the husband is very tall and largely built.

 

Does anyone know if the bed in the Royal Suite is an actual king bed (Celebrity told me it is, and even sent me a screenshot of their internal computer system to prove it), or is it a queen? I'm referring to American standards for a king bed, which is 76" x 80".

 

Thank you to anyone who might shed light on this for us.

 

Charles Sylvia

Providence, RI

Have King at home and it is same width. Seems as if length seems just a tad shorter than king size at home but that is not a fact only an opinion - I did not measure. I am 5ft tall and it probably depends on pillow arrangement and sleeping position varying from ship to home. For the record size is the same on M Class ships also and beds have been pretty comfy in most instances.

On the very recent New England/Canada cruise on Summit there were very few tuxedos/dinner jackets in sight on "formal" nights. Most men were in suits or sports jackets.

Two of the 3 nights we dined at Normandie and most men wore jackets but were a few in more casual attire. One formal night we dined with Hotel Director, and all of the male passengers at table were in suits. When the invitation arrived I advised that tux was not packed and was told that tuxedo was not necessary at all. It was quite a congenial group and I don't believe anyone felt ill at ease.

When you pass someone in the elevator etc on formal night casually dressed don't let them ruin your formal experience/tradition as they may not be going to MDR or dining later than you. On this cruise there were passengers in their "formal" wear at 4pm while I was still on my way to have afternoon coffee. And I guess I don't consider it disrespectful to me if others choose to dress casual even if I am a rule follower.

I seem to remember a coffee setup midship around game room or library. It has been a few years and I may have Equinox confused with another S class ship. I can say I do not remember it being on Eclipse last fall or at least I did not use it.

Jenna I have previously seen it but thanks for the link as I showed to my husband and he was quite surprised at the included additions to suites since last Nov in RS. We also have cruised all categories except for PH on both M & S ships. My actual fav are the CSs rather than RS.

We are on for 14 days and I am not sure how we will use Michael's as we are on 9. We always loved M on both Constellation and Millennium except when it was a cigar bar although we were frequently 2 of only a handful of passengers who would be there b4 or after dinner. Michael's bartenders always had the brand of champagne I requested without batting an eye and opened it fresh almost every time - have no idea where the rest of the bottle went but I know I was not drinking a whole each visit!

Sorry your cruise is over but I am ready to sail away. Bobbi