chemmo

Sincere best wishes for a speedy recovery! For one reason and another I have done a lot of vicarious cruising myself this year!

Jim, just a brief message to say thank you for sharing your adventures. Loving every menu, picture and word…

I hate to say this but years ago we had a big ‘new’ crew on Equinox and to describe service as chaotic for the full cruise was an understatement…In all my Celebrity cruises it is the only one where we asked to speak to the hotel manager as so many things were wrong…His cheerful reassurance that “By next week service will be getting nearly back to normal” was not what we wanted/needed to hear! A butler who did nothing but tell us how sore his feet were (and in detail). A room attendant first day who, when I politely asked him to re vacuum the room as there were finger nails by the sofa in the lounge said I should have cut them over a bin. I had to point out to him they were violent red and clearly belonging to the last occupant! None existent service at the Elite cocktail hour…Really none existent. Even the Michael’s Club host was new and tried to tell me we would need to pay for our son’s specialty dining (we were in a RS) and didn’t believe me until she had spoken to the M’D of Murano. Luminae breakfast service was soooooo slooooow and evening service was a bit of a joke with so many errors. When the wrong entrees were brought out to us the waiter turned around moving from table to table asking generally “Has anyone ordered the lamb and salmon?”. When he finally found an owner he then needed reminding about ten minutes later that we were still waiting! We can laugh now looking back but at the time it really was a disaster and disappointment of a cruise. Never experienced anything that bad or remotely near that bad before or since. Quite simply they had swapped over so many staff the new ones weren’t getting the training they needed.

We have cruised Eclipse RS on several occasions and most other S class RS too. We find the rooms lovely. A good sized balcony, lots of space in the living room to relax, entertain and dine in if you wish. Bathroom is really nice too. The RS perks are lovely too. We particularly enjoy the unlimited speciality dining and tend to dine in Tuscan or Murano most evenings. Go for it! Enjoy!

Make sure you add ‘special occasions’ to your planner. As others have said head straight to a speciality restaurant as you board. If you are flexible about the time you dine you are far more likely to get the dates you want. Sincere best wishes for a wonderful cruise!

Definitely a ‘hit and miss time’ for the weather in this part of the Mediterranean at this time of year…We have experienced everything from glorious sunshine to torrential downpours! Op, hope you have a wonderful cruise. I would be interested in feedback on Luminae and Michael’s Club once you have experienced both a few times.

Our son did lots of cruises with us in his late teens and early twenties. Sometimes there were others similar age sometimes not. However, we always gave options for active and interesting port days and then he was content to spend the sea days with us crashing poolside, enjoying dining…

We have found the response mixed. On some cruises we have been given a cake, on others a decorated cake slice…Only on one occasion (our son’s birthday) was our room decorated. If you want it celebrating definitely let the M’D know beforehand and on the actual evening.

Having looked at travelling solo this year and the cost I decided to invite family members to join me. It seemed a waste to me to pay to go solo. Just my personal reflection. I guess your choice will depend on what you enjoy on a cruise. Are you someone who enjoys their own company? Spends lots of time reading, doing crosswords etc? If so then you will get your value from your balcony. Or do you enjoy socialising and enjoying the ship’s facilities? Given the choice if I went solo of a balcony vs drinks package I would go for the drinks package. My reasoning is as follows: I like breakfast on the balcony and sitting out in the afternoon for a while but with six sea days in a row I would want to enjoy the ship facilities. I would want to have a swim in the Solarium regardless of the weather, attend some of the lectures, cooking demonstrations, a quiz or two…As you say, if the weather isn’t good you can’t use your balcony but you can enjoy looking out from one of the lounges etc. Whilst I am not a big drinker I do enjoy the social atmosphere of the bar areas. We have made long lasting friendships over the years in bars…During the day I often get my ‘value’ from a drinks package from coffee, non alcoholic cocktails, water and tea! In the evening I do enjoy a pre dinner drink or a drink in the theatre if watching a show and a glass or two of wine with a meal. I do like ordering what I want without considering the cost… I guess what I am saying (perhaps badly) is the balcony offers ‘my time’ and the drinks package offers ‘social settings’. I do understand your ‘sitting alone at a bar…’ but it doesn’t need to be so. On numerous cruises I have visited bars on my own whilst waiting for others to join me and invariably conversations develop. However, I have also joined the roll call for my cruise and do plan on joining in some organised social events, mixing with others… I don’t think there is any right/wrong answer, just what you will get the most pleasure from… Sincere best wishes for a wonderful cruise!

So pleased your journey wasn’t as disrupted as many of us feared and that you are refreshed and able to enjoy your pre cruise days… Must confess we tend to more and more look for rooms that are ‘apartment style’. Not only are they often more practical for a pre/post cruise stay they are often very competitively priced… Sincere best wishes for a wonderful cruise!

Soooo looking forward to vicariously enjoying a bit of Caribbean sunshine with you…

Both my feet would fit into one slipper so if you are on the petite side of life they are useless!

On our last few wonderful cruises together we splurged on RS and PH…Whilst at the time we didn’t know our time together was limited we did believe in ‘Making it count’…No regrets…

Yes, they did…Some upgrading of furnishings in bard etc. Michael’s Club to be revamped as Retreat Lounge. Ironically I think I would have preferred them to leave Michael’s alone…

We are also booked on Infinity later this year and I telephoned to ask what the update would include…Definitely no suite sun deck.

Mix ups happen. It is how they are handled that matters… Agree, if Celebrity had given the OP free speciality dining and offered a bar set up in addition to the OBC I think that could have taken the sting out of the situation. Ironically it wouldn’t really have cost Celebrity much to do this…

Annoying and disappointing….I feel for you. Having cruised Silhouettes PH it really is a wonderful experience. It would appear you have exhausted all options of complaint now, all you can do is put it behind you, get on board and enjoy your CS. As a note for the future, we find we generally get the best prices for RS and PH shortly after itineraries are released. I know for certain on our Equinox cruise we paid significantly less for our RS than two couples had paid for theirs through the move up system. Perhaps you could soften the blow of your disappointment by looking out for a good offer in the future rather than using the move up system.

We tend to book rooms that come with a bar set up and do tend to use it more than we would have expected. Nice to mix a g & t as you are getting ready to go out or to return to your balcony late at night and sit out with a cognac… However, much as we sometimes enjoy this perk it isn’t vital. Like yourself, we enjoy company at the bar and trying new drinks. Also, no cabins are that far from a bar, so you can easily bring a drink back to your room if you want one… As I said, a product probably making the most sense for guests with no drinks package.

I think it works well for those who don’t particularly drink so don’t want a package but maybe just enjoy either an afternoon drink on the balcony or a late night nightcap. I would think for a couple it would be cheaper than buying 2 x double cognacs every night to take back to the room and certainly more convenient!

We purchased one of these packages several years ago. It was a one litre bottle and it came with 6 mixers of our choice and a box of mixed nuts. If you wanted more mixers you would then have to purchase them if you didn’t have a drinks package,

I can honestly say I have never, ever, seen a dirty Celebrity ship…. This is our experience… OP my sincere condolences go to you for the unfortunate experience your husband had and now covid but I don’t understand your ‘I just found out’ sentence….

Best wishes for a speedy recovery to your husband.

Perhaps it is written for us Brits who need help to understand the accent…..

RS had new bedding, sofa and chair and new uncomfortable outside reclining chairs and table and chairs. Inside millions of cushions (OK I exaggerate a little…) but we ended up storing loads in the walk in wardrobe. Outside, neither the recliner chairs or the dining chairs had cushions….Our butler did round up a few outdoor cushions from the retreat deck for us but not ideal…

We still haven’t tried E class…. Next cruise a return to M class.