chemmo

Agree, with some physical disabilities business class flights are a necessity not a luxury for us for long haul. Whilst accepting some price increases on cruise costs and possibly some reduction in product provided seems almost an inevitability to cost of business flights is becoming prohibitive….

Comments like that are tempting fate….

Personally I’d panic and be on the phone to Celebrity not writing on here. Let us know the story…

To be perfectly honest even when in the PH we only usually put things in to launder we would put in a mixed wash at home. You do have included dry cleaning so there is an alternative for skirts, dresses and trousers. I think most regular cruisers have ‘cruise clothes’….skirts/trousers that mix and match with several tops. I also think that most frequent cruisers also choose lightweight fabrics that don’t crease. Add a few accessories and you never feel you wear the same outfit more than once. There rarely is a need to wash delicate (or loved) items on board. Even when we have a pre cruise holiday stay and a post cruise stay we usually barely use our Elite+ allowance let alone the unlimited offered in the PH.

No microwave other than in the butlers pantry area of the PH on m class I think. We have never had a microwave in the PH on S class ships.

Sincere best wishes for a wonderful cruise. We have cruised Solstice twice, both in RS but have cruised in the PH on other S class ships. The PH is decadently spacious and the banks of windows make it wonderfully light. Ideal for entertaining. The balcony is quite long and thin but does have a covered area so useable most of the time. Great dining table and wet bar area inside and the table on the balcony is also a good size. As the ship has not yet been revolutionised you will still have a piano. A great place to drop your cards or keep a box of chocolates! On the negative side the ship has not had Michael’s Club revamped and has no suite deck area. To get the most out of a PH you do need to communicate clearly with your butler, the concierge and other staff. A couple of examples…. The butlers bring afternoon treats. They always look wonderful but often they are not what you want at that time of day. If we ate them it would spoil our evening meal. Make it clear what you do/don’t want. We usually request a small afternoon tea selection and have to stress the word ‘small’. If you want to dine in suite for a special occasion let the butler know the day before if possible. He can then usually arrange alternatives to the standard menu and course by course service. The concierge can usually arrange bridge tours and other behind the scenes tours. Let them know on boarding if you are interested. On the evenings you plan on dining in the speciality restaurants make sure you communicate any table preferences. For example, a window seat in Tuscan, a corner seat in Murano. Enjoy!

Each time we do a longer (or less port intensive) cruise I intend to do all the things I never get around to doing usually including… seeing all the shows attending the podium lectures attending cooking demo’s reading lots of books attending a wine tasting…. Somehow it never actually happens… We meet interesting people and find we prefer chat to shows. I highlight the podium lectures/cooking demo’s then get comfortable on the balcony with my book that doesn’t get read because I am staring at the ocean. Mean to go to the wine tasting but then find I am enjoying a swim, a chat, a coffee… I guess my instinctive feeling is if you board a long cruise wondering about how you will fill the time then perhaps long cruises aren’t for your mindset. Long cruises to me are all about slowing down, having time to people watch, sea gaze and star gaze….

Lucky you! Getting a three course meal in a decent pub in the UK for £35 is hard to achieve for one person let alone $35 for two! We love the S class speciality restaurants, especially on Silhouette and Reflection. I think you are thinking about this the wrong way around…Each of the restaurants on the ship has something above/different than your usual resort restaurants and indeed Luminae and Blu… Murano…The ambiance of fine dining, not stuffy but definitely classy. It always feels like a special occasion when you dine there. The table side presentation (So nice to watch the waiter flambé your lobster), the over the top dome delivery, the food taste and presentation…Visiting is a highlight of every cruise for us. Tuscan Grill…Book early evening as you are leaving a port. From the fantastic windows see the ropes come of the ship as you sip your first glass of wine and peruse the menu…Enjoy your starter as the port fades into the distance and your entree as day turns to night. Sip coffee and liqueurs still gazing at the wake of the ship, perhaps spotting a distant ship on the horizon. Lawn Grill…Dining outside at sea. Partially protected from the breeze but still feeling and smelling the sea air. A laid back dining experience, no need to dress up, think of it more as a family BBQ event. Choose a range of skewers and ask to dine family style sharing a range of dishes so you get to try a bit of everything. LPC…Okay the novelty has worn off for me now but I giggled like a five year old the first time I visited! It is fun dining rather than fine dining but an experience most people don’t get the opportunity to do at home… To us it is the ‘unique experience’ of each of the speciality restaurants that make them worth the up charge not just the food. Good as your food may be in your resort restaurants I doubt if any can match the experiences Reflection’s speciality restaurants offer. It has always been our motto to not put off until tomorrow something you could enjoy today…Put your hand in your pocket and pay out for some new experiences! If you don’t try you will never know…

I know the parrots are pretty ugly and useless but at least they take up less space than the profusion of cushions we had in an S class RS after refurbishment…

Hope you enjoy your stay in Barcelona, we have visited a couple of times pre cruise and loved it. A key factor in choosing a hotel in Barcelona in our opinion is to make sure it is on the HOHO bus route. Some of the stops are some distance apart so choosing a hotel near a bus stop can be a good option. Agree with others that if you want to have entertainment right outside your door Las Ramblas is great. Some hotels make it clear on booking if you have a room with a view or not…others are less specific and you can feel you have payed a lot of money to look at a brick wall for having the Las Ramblas address when you could be just around the corner for a lot less money. General rule is if there isn’t a room upgrade option for a Las Ramblas view then don’t expect one. Re safety in Barcelona…Whilst we felt very safe in Barcelona it is known as a pickpocketing hotspot (like many European cities). Keep your valuables to a minimum when walking around. Worthwhile taking two different credit cards on holiday with you and only taking one out with you in Barcelona so if it is stolen and needs cancelling you still have a second card for your cruise. Make sure you research the hotspots to visit like La Familia Sagrada. You can save a lot of time by pre booking tours on line. There are lots of smaller quirky attractions in Barcelona like the fire engine museum and the archaeological museum as well as the ‘top’ attractions so worthwhile really reading beyond the ‘Top 5’ attractions and looking for things of real interest to you. Finally, make time to simply sit in a local bar with a bottle of local wine and a tapas assortment and simply soak in the atmosphere… Enjoy!

Agree. Delivery of drinks even to top suites has never been a perk. Whilst occasionally a butler may offer to bring drinks, for example, if you pre arrange a meal in suite we would never just phone to request drink delivery. It does concern me that many people cruised in suites for the first time when ships were under capacity and butlers may have had time to offer additional services. If these guests now board seeing in suite drinks service as standard either they will be disappointed or the service to all suites will suffer.

It was not a small bottle, it was a one litre… I am now wondering if it was on RC we had the nuts….Definitely had the one litre bottles on both lines when we booked the in suite bar set up. However, as I said in my original post, it is few years now since we did this as we generally book RS or PH on Celebrity with in suite bar set up as standard.

We did this but a few years ago. It was a one litre bottle plus mixers and a box of mixed nuts. Ideal if you like an afternoon drink in your room or a late night balcony tipple.

The PH (and RS) experience does vary. In our experience more to do with staffing than how full the ship is. If you have an outstanding rather than a ‘good’ butler and a proactive concierge rather than a concierge that is nice but only responds to requests then the experience is enriched. Rather than you making requests for x, y or z the concierge will offer/arrange a few extra options you may enjoy and the butler will suggest some alternative dining options or leave you little treats you haven’t asked for…Every day your expectations will be exceeded. Hard to explain how ‘little things’ can make a cruise better but once you have experienced exceptional service you recognise it…

So pleased about your upgrade, hope you enjoy! Really enjoying the sunshine you are bringing to my morning coffee (or afternoon tea today)…

Tom, I have waited to reply as I hoped you would get more personal responses from cruisers who have experienced the RS on S and E class. My information is from cruise friends who are regular S and 2 x E class cruisers. Firstly, my friends love the Edge class whole ship design. They found it refreshingly new. Liked the fact all suite areas were together. They found Luminae less pleasant on E class (louder, no MDR menu). They really liked the Retreat Deck on E class but preferred the Retreat Lounge on S class (better service). Really disappointed with the E class RS. Tiny balcony, big overhang meaning little sun and no stargazing at night. Also comments on some uncomfortable seating and the sinks in the bathroom being unpractical despite being attractive. Found the CS on E class OK but without the higher suite perks expensive for what it was. They have two cruises booked this year. On E class they have booked a standard IV. They plan on enjoying the four dining rooms and supplementing with some speciality dining. They simply didn’t feel that the price of a suite was worth it. Initially they had looked at booking a SS but as the only suite area they were looking at really using was the Deck they found it difficult to justify the costing. In contrast on Equinox they have gone for their usual RS…They will utilise Luminae, the speciality restaurants and lounge (not really the retreat deck) but more important for them they will enjoy the room itself and the balcony. I guess it all depends what you want from a cruise…

Enjoy, we loved our Summit cruise! Hints… Look in the buffet at lunchtime, we love the Indian selection. Ask about speciality restaurant deals. Simply enjoy!

You definitely don’t need a ‘break’…look out for your arms, legs and hips! What you definitely need is a cruise… The only good thing about bouts of ill health is that they do make you reflect on the important things in life and focus on ‘making it count’… Sincere best wishes for a fantastic cruise!

Thanks for the mention, peanut head, great to know someone has found our posts useful!

Never had an issue on a ship. However, many ports are not as safe. Pick pocketing is rife in many ports and cities. Whilst most of the time you are ‘safely’ robbed (you don’t even notice) there are occasions where violence is used especially when tourists leave the main areas… General rules… Find out about each port you visit, safe and unsafe areas. Tourist maps often available. Take minimal cash with you.Use a lanyard or belt rather than a wallet in a pocket. Avoid wearing expensive watches and jewellery. If you take a credit card off ship make sure you still have a different one on board. Be alert when you put items (bags) next to you in cafés etc. Be alert to locals offering to ‘take you’ to shops or restaurants ‘great value, just down here…’ If you are threatened to hand over valuables just do it. Whilst most of us usually have no problems in ports it is the unwary who are often targeted…

Looking forward to following your adventures once again. Sincere best wishes for calm seas, good weather, excellent service and great food and even better company!

There are posters on cruise critic who are novices…they ask an occasional question and then disappear into the ether until their next cruise. Then there are chatterers who join in debates, add their opinions to discussions and generally help to make the CC Celebrity board such a good read… Then there are the real ‘givers’….Those CC contributors who will repeat information about their findings and experiences to each new query as if for the first time…Their enthusiasm shines through their posts, their experience enlightens any who read their responses to the posts of others. vtcruising was the best of the best for sharing…. My heart goes out tonight to her family and friends…To have ‘known’ her on CC was a privilege…to have met with her in real life must have been such a blessing…

Shorter cruises can be livelier. Younger guests with limited time off work can prefer these short breaks. However, we have done a couple and found no real difference in ambiance than a longer cruise. Obviously, if they overlap Spring break or other holiday periods they can be a significantly different experience…

We are D+ and E+ so used to both lines… Whilst the focus on RC can be Activities and Entertainment on Celebrity it is more about Rest and Relaxation…Ideal on an itinerary which is port intensive. Our son in his 30’s and fiancée prefer Celebrity to Royal. Whilst overall they are younger than most guests they invariably meet up with a few other couples of similar age in one or other of the bars… Much nicer food, in our opinion, in all venues from buffet to speciality. Make sure you look at the ‘Today’ paper to see what music/entertainment is on. Whilst the big shows may not have the bells and whistles of the bigger RC ships Celebrity is very good at providing a good range of music in a variety of lounges. Particularly recommend the Ensemble Lounge. Great venue to enjoy the music and make new friends.

Agree…. A few things happened during the early post covid cruise that I think upset the previous known expectations for suites at different levels. Firstly, in those first few cruises suites were not fully booked. Meaning generally a great staff to guest ratio. We read several reports that RS/PH guests had been given unlimited access to the spa. Not normally a perk. Several guests reporting room service from Luminae as a rule rather than an organised treat. Several sky suite guests reporting free minibar and drink delivery service. In room drink service has never been standard even if in a higher suite…Again a treat rather than an expectation. Guests in multiple suite categories reporting contact by the shoreside concierge rather than ‘always’ in a higher suite, sometimes in a CS and randomly in a SS. From experience over many years there was a lot of ‘moving the bar’ on what you were ‘entitled to’ and what you received. Enabled by low numbers and a genuine desire to provide guests with exceptional service experiences….Now we are back to pre covid numbers, several staff on shore and on the ship with limited experience and the need to re-establish expectations… One of the snags now is the Retreat is constantly full, some staff are not fully trained and some guests may anticipate that the service level they received on these start up cruises is the ‘norm’.