bigbenboys

Count on vouchers instead of elite happy hour.

Why do you think Celebrity would do vouchers? Do you the that these Physicians, Attorneys, Psychologists, Doctors of Pharmacy, Dentists, Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, Nurses & Others are cruising Celebrity a lot?

We booked this cruise under the 123Go get all 3 promo sometime last year while on a cruise. We have classic drink package. We still like going to the Elite event in the Sky lounge.

I have done some thinking and looking to find a different cruise or change to a land trip. I booked our airfare last year also, but gave us 5 days before and 6 days after the cruise. So we do have a large window to make changes.

The only cruise that comes close is leaving out of Southampton, England on Sept 3, 2016. At this time we are going to keep this cruise. My neighborhood at home is full of doctors.

We just returned from a 3 nite on the Constellation

In general, we enjoyed the cruise, but what follows is our Aqua Class critique. By way of background we have used Aquaclass on the vast majority of our Celebrity adventures so what follows is our general observations

Lots of Aqua changes

1. No water in room after day 1 contrary to what Celebrity sold us when we booked and what they told our TA before the trip(unlimited water in room every day)

2. Amenities eliminated are the lip balms, facial sprays, cotton balls and qtips they are only available if you remember to request them, wheras befor they were "automatic"

3. BLU menu cut down and only limited availability from Mdr i.e. Onion soup, escargots and 2 other starters. no main courses available from Mdr in BLU as in the past. Also no turkey sausage in blu have to get it in buffet or Mdr and bring in for breakfast or request 1 day before(Change from last time)

3. Ocean liners replaced Murano and in comparison to prior menu offerrings very limited menu and no longer in my experience worth the $

4. Entertainment downhill IMHO

5. Crew service and room attendants was still top notch

6. Buffet choices for lunch leaned toward indo asian , sandwich and salad choices are limited(ham,pressed turkey breast) limited, carving station beef very tough and stringy.. We ate grilled burgers alot. This represented a big change

Also ,Bistro on 5 was practically empty at all times

 

Bottom line Acqua and Celebrity experience no longer "special", it is now strictly a value proposition only IMHO

If I liked what was on the MDR menu and not what was on the Blu menu I would and have eaten in the Select part of the MDR. I would not ask for item off the MDR menu in Blu. I would also not expect the staff in Blu to get MDR item for me. We must be what they called low matinees.

We are planning on doing the 10 night Italy and Greek Isles cruise at the end of July. I have the option to get a Sky Suite in the middle of the Reflection or at the back-end of the ship. The back-end is cheaper but I figure that's because it's not as desirable. Is there a reason I should pay more for the mid-ship Sky Suite? Thanks in advance.

I found this on another thread about Solstice aft Sky Suite.

"A Brief Report From Onboard Solstice"

We are currently on the Solstice for the 12-night South Pacific and Fiji cruise. Now I say this coming from a place of love, but we really need a break from X. We are having a great time, always appreciate the opportunity to travel and are not complainers, but we have noticed certain things creeping up that mean we need to take some time away from X.

 

On the plus side, the ship is beautiful as always. The loving care that the crew gives these ships is admirable. We are in an aft Sky Suite and the room itself is fantastic. Luminae continues to be a highlight for us with fabulous service and wonderful food. The crew, overall, continues to be fantastic, remembering names and drink preferences. Everyone is just delightful. We feel valued and appreciated, and everyone tries to make this a great experience. And of course, the Solarium, which is our favorite spot of any ship, continues to be our daily retreat.

 

On the negative side, this ship is LOUD! Now, I have been on here in the past to defend X when people would complain about the noise level (which I never thought to be excessive). But I would have to agree now. We are in our 30s. We're not grumpy 100-year old men who push our spectacles down our noses and look disapprovingly at anyone having fun. But why has the Martini Bar become a chaotic whirlwind of whistles and yelling bartenders and screeching passengers, set to the backdrop of LOUD music bellowing through the atrium? Yes, there are quieter venues to hang out, but this was always our favorite. Not now. And why has the pool area been taken over by loud bands and singing and loud activity? I can't even listen to my own music on my iPhone because the band's music drowns it out. We now spend the whole day lounging in the Solarium - luckily we love it in there.

 

The menu options don't change. We're eating the same thing in Luminae this cruise as we did on Infinity back in June. We are eating the same thing in Silk Harvest as we did last time. The Oceanview Cafe offers the same menu items on every cruise. Not much variety for those of us onboard frequently. Granted, the food is fabulous in all venues. And, yes, restaurants we eat at back home don't change menus often. But our other cruise lines of choice offer an extensive variety of options, differing on each voyage. Yes, maybe we're spoiled, and maybe we're just getting too familiar with X.

 

As mentioned before, our room is great! Really well-maintained and taken great care of by our stewards. But we have one of the Sky Suites that is located in the awkward separate little hallway area, separated from the main hallway by an exterior door. The space just outside our door is being used as a storage area for pallets of toilet paper, couch cushions, trays and housekeeping carts. It detracts from the suite experience to have all of this to navigate getting into our room and looks like where they throw everything they can't fit into proper storage areas.

We have a special place in our hearts for X....and we have a great trip booked on the Connie for Xmas 2016 to India.....but no more additional X bookings for us for a long while. Azamara will be getting the bulk of our business for the foreseeable future. X isn't doing anything wrong....we just feel as if some things have changed that have made it not such a good fit for us.

 

Still having a great time out here, and looking forward to the rest of this cruise. We certainly can't complain about having the time and money to take such great trips!

 

M&O

We have booked many cruises with the 123go package mostly Aqua cabins. I changed our next cruise to a Sky Suite with Celebrity get all 4. For us we dont care what shelve the booze comes from. You can get a small martini in the Martini Bar, that will work with the classic drink package. This just means ordering more drinks and trying different drinks. If your into wine, yes premium wines are better and with more choices. Myself I have not found a white wine that I could not drink. One friend upgraded his classic drink package because he likes Guinness which is covered under premium drink package.

No Shorts, Capris, Jeans ! .... everything else is good :)

Where does it say no capris or jean on the Celebrity website?

My father uses a CPAP. The cabin attendant will get a extension cord and set the machine up for you. My parents bring their own extension cord for the hotel and as a back up. But, Celebrity will most likely want to use their own cords. My parents have not been sent to the knotty room as of yet for having the extension cord in their suitcase. They will run the cord overhead or on the floor.

Thinking about our next cruise with the drink package. The things that I will do different.

I will have wine with dinner the 1st night. Other nights I will go to the Elite Event, but might drink less wine. So I can have a glass of wine with dinner. I will not go to the Captains Party in the theater, because if I want a drink I can get it other places. Sea day I will have 1 pina colada at the pool. The drink package will benefit with 7 drinks that I would normally not have.

Well we have done 3 cruises since my statement above. 2 of the cruises we had the drink packages. I will say that it was harder to get drinks on the Silhouette as they dont have the Oceanview aft bar on deck 14. We had to get drinks from the sunset bar deck 15. This might be a Caribbean thing.

We still went to the Elite Event every night that it was held from about 5 to 6:30. Visit with new friends and old friends.

I booked what I could back under 123Go promo. My Sept 5 cruise on Silhouette dont have any suites left. Our Jan 2017 cruise on Millennium still have cabins. Our May 2017 cruise on Solstice only have a few Sky suites left and Aqua seems to be filling up fast. Only time will tell. I've only seen the prices go up in the last couple of years.

Princess Captain's Circle benefits just can't compare to Celebrity or Royal Caribbean loyal members benefits. Princess does a some nice cruises on the west coast. I'm now Platinum now with Princess. I'm sure at some point I will do another Princess cruise.

Normally we pack the night before. We pack jeans, shirts, polo's, shorts, t-shirts and a swim suit. I'm packing 2 pairs of shoes. Tennis shoes and sandals. I wearing my boat shoes.

I generally agree unless its port side on the aft of the hump...decks 6 or 7. No way I'd want to be right above that smoking area.

I thought those are the balconies to have no one knows where the smoke is coming from. LOL

1. How early do pax start arriving at Port Everglades for boarding?

 

Not sure how early others arrive but we arrive around 11 am and find it takes about 20 mins from arrival to boarding.

 

2. Do you have to make reservations for evening shows or comedians or can you just show up?

 

No reservations required. Just show up.

 

3. Do ANY men still wear a tux on Evening Chic nights? And can men wear polos and slacks other nights?

 

Yes, men still wear tuxes and suits on Chic nights. Men MUST wear slacks and collared shirts to dinner on other nights (except in buffet I believe...but I've never been in the buffet at dinner)

 

4. We are booked in a Veranda deluxe ( not Aqua or Concierge class), is it possible to request 2 robes from the cabin steward?

 

Can't hurt to ask but I don't know.

 

5. We have a Premium Beverage plan, where can I get bottled water from? I drink a ton of water daily.

 

Any bar and Café Al Bacio or ask when at dinner

 

6. We have Select dining. Will the Dining room take a reservation for say

730 pm every night after the first night?

 

I don't know if they'll take reservations but you can just show up when you want. In 7 cruises we have never waited more than 5 minutes to be seated.

I'm sure happy all our cruises are booked in Aqua or above so I can wear my jeans to dinner in Blu or Luminae every night.:D

As to the food in Blu. Over all it is very good. The 2 things that I had that I did not like were the couscous and the Kobe meat loaf. The meat loaf looked like cat food from those small round cans. What Blu seems to like to put on the menus is lamb, game birds (pigeons, pheasants and quail) and veal. This is just my opinion but lambs, pheasants and quail are cute. Veal is a calves under one year of age. Well I just say no to pigeons. If I was at a dinner party and these items were served to me yes I would eat them. I'm just would not choice them for myself. If we all like the same things it would be very boring.

As I have said before I can always find something great to eat on the Blu menus. The service is always very good. And yes I try and stay away the grouping of tables of 2 on the S class ships. On the M class the tables of 2 did not seem as bad.

The location of Aqua cabins. We have never had a problem with noise from the pool. We love the cabins on deck 11. I like being close to the pool and the buffet.

Our last cruise we had Select Dining. I would say we have had Select Dining four times now. I have my TA make dinner reservations for about the same time each night. For the most part we have had the same waitstaff each night. When I do tip it is on one of the last nights. They really do try and put you with the same waitstaff each night. Hostess/Host might ask you if you liked the table you had last night.

We are booking on Reflections in March 2016 7 day Eastern cribbean. I booked a A1 cabin for the cost of a A2 while on a cruise with the all in 123go perk. The price difference is $1000. Being that we have the all in 123go and are Elite plus. It just does not seem worth the price. So then I checked out our May 2017 Hawaii cruise. We only got 1 perk with that booking. They wanted double the price we are paying for our A1 cabin. Our other two cruises the suites are all gone.

We now have a S1 booked and paid for. I got one of the old Aqua Suites. So we still get the great shower wall. The cost for upgrading was off set by some more OBC.

I know we can eat in Blu, Luminae and MDR. As we are in a Sky suite where else can we eat that would normally have a fee? I heard talk of Bistro on 5.

It can take a couple of days to show up. I always bring a copy of my reservation information with me just in case. I have had problems one time with OBC not being posted. They had to get hold of the Miami office to get it all straighten out.

Wow! Thank you everybody! We are worried about noise by our cabin. We have a 2c balcony (6302) and have read that there is a lot of noise?? Has anyone had this?? Help!

Check out this Sticky at the top of Celebrity message board you can download and do a search of your cabin. Also go to Celebrity website and see what cabins might be available in your category. Call Celebrity if you booked with them or your Travel Agent about getting a different cabin.

S-Class Cabin Information Compilation - PLEASE - DO NOT POST CABIN QUESTIONS HERE!!!

I did do it once on the Celebrity website. The website changed and they made it difficult. I just call my TA and she takes care of it.

We normally book Aqua Class. The reason is the service in Blu, not the food. They always seem to have escargot and creme brulee and the salmon. It is not about the Spa at all. I think I've gotten some great prices under 126Go. I booked 3 cruise in AC with Allin and 1 without. I just changed a A1 to a S1. I think I got a great deal. I'm happy with the price. I'm now looking to change a Jan 2017 cruise to a S1.

What is the price of the same size bottle on the ship?

Normally $168.00, but I have gotten it as low as $99.00 without the box.

I'm fine with the changes from formal to evening chic. So I did a google search. Through Huffington Post and The Daily Meal Jan 2014. They list the 11 restaurants in the United State that require a jacket for men. "11 Restaurants That Still Make You Wear a Jacket" It looks like Celebrity has made the right move.

The shore excursion desk has always been open on embarkation day on all the cruises we have taken.

 

You can book your excursions there in person.

Or if you don't have any questions, you can fill out a form requesting the excursions you want and drop it in a box if there is a line and you don't want to wait.

Or simply book your excursions from your cabin using the interactive TV menu.

They will deliver the tickets to your cabin and the charges for the excursions will appear on your onboard account.

 

As fleckle said. We booking 1st day from our cabin. It works out great.

We live in Washington State. johnnie walker blue at the grocery store is $259.00 plus a tax. So buying on the ship is a great deal.

Hello, I thought I read someplace there are differences in the room service menu between the regular balcony class (veranda) and concierge. What are the differences? Thank you!

I remember being able to get blended fruit smoothes for one

Yes I have the Premium drink package. The problem is when I go to the bar to get a rum and coke and a bottle of water. They can't give me both. I have to wait ten mins. After waiting ten mins I need another rum and coke. I just have to leave without getting a bottle of water. I'll just take my used bottle to the Oceanview to refill my water bottle.:eek: