BosoxI

Service can vary greatly in any restqurant ship to ship, but our must recent Celebrity experience was three B2Bs late last year on the Eclipse. Two trips in Blu and one in Luminae.

For us Blu could be noisy and crowded, so choosing the right table is a necessity. The food was good but it's good in the MDR most of the time. We have become disenchanted with Blu.

Luminae, on the other hand, had better spaced tables, a more attentive, less harried staff, and the food was better across the board. I am not a big fan of breakfast, after all, eggs are eggs and bacon is bacon, but Luminae had some items not found on Blui's menu. Eggs ranchero come to mind. So my vote clearly is for Luminae but that does not consider the cost difference between Aqua and a suite.

Incidentally, we just returned from a MSC cruise in their Yacht club, an experience I highly recommend except that the food in the dedicated restaurant was generally disappointing. Luminae gets my vote in that comparison, too.

Since gratuities went up to 18% on all drinks, the only time we give cash tips now are to the bar servers in the Elite Lounge.

I do the same but not $1 a drink. At the end of the evening I'll slip the bartender a couple of bucks and possibly the waiter who comes with the appetizers, if he shows up regularly. I do the same for the barrista making my Elite+ coffee or the waitress in the Elite breakfast . I don't tip extra for regular bartender service. 18% is plenty. In fact 18% is excessive. When did that become the standard?

Maybe they could reach a compromise and allow people to use them in the salon, that way they could be monitored?

And that would be convenient, too. :p

I love traveling in Great Britain and other countries where they don't tip. I save alot of money because I don't have to tip anyone. But when they travel in countries where tipping is expected, or on a North American cruiseline, then they should be willing to tip appropriately.

I doubt you're saving anything, as the cost of your meal is probably higher to include the living wage. It might spare you the pain of figuring out what 15% of 32 GBP is, but that's about it. The same applies when some politicians want to raise the taxes paid by corporations who then pass the tab on to the general public. Or how about states who proudly announce they have no income tax but neglect to mention their ridiculous property or sales taxes. Don't kid yourself, the piper must be paid.

As for me, drinks anywhere on board is a non-issue. I don't want to leave the Top Sail or the 18th deck. :)

Once we realized we didn't care for the public areas, DW and I pretty much stayed in the YC area except to see a show (the theater is fantastic) or to traverse the seventh deck in order to eat our unremarkable meal in the very much misplaced Le Muse.

A few other observations: the pizza would have been excellent had it been completely baked. I suspect the demand for it is so great that the cooks don't leave it in the oven long enough. That's a shame, as it's very tasty. I tried only five pieces in the buffet, two were half raw, the others were very good. We didn't have one delivered from Eataly to our cabin.

The YC Deluxe "Suite" is no bigger than a regular balcony stateroom, and the S1 and even S2 suites on Celebrity are larger. The balcony is narrow but the cabin is well appointed, especially the marble but smallish bathroom. The walkin closet eats up some space, of course. No shower stall so be prepared to step into a bathtub, a possible problem for the elderly in high seas.

If the drapes are completely closed at night, the cabin is a tomb. I mean black. No night light in the bath, though it might to possible to use your own, as there is a plug. The sink stopper has to be pushed in order to drain the water, a minor but annoying situation. I was a bit surprised that the robes were not Frette or equivalent, just regular waffle.

The Top Sail Lounge is very nice, a good place to hang out, as drinks and food are available all day. And it sure is convenient, as is the pool area on Deck 18, where food and drinks are also available. Plenty of space in both areas, so chair hogs were never an issue.

I purchased too much WiFi time for our purposes. Also, there is no dedicated IT person on board, which is unbelievable on a ship this size. I had no trouble connecting my Kindle and my cellphone, but my computer posed a problem. The YC concierge called down to the ship's expert who gave me a quick fix. Be aware that purchased WiFi time cannot be applied in the computer lounge, where you'll have to use your cruise card with a separate charge, of course.

If you have status on another line, be sure to get credit with MSC. We had a black card and received two plates of chocolate covered strawberries (on the same evening, burp), two bottles of champagne, and free access to two specialty restaurants where we ate from the prix fixe menu on two evenings. Note that we were limited to that menu or we would have had to pay extra. One irate couple was complaining to the concierge that they had been charged for their meal from the regular menu. They must have been sleeping through the many occasions we were told that the limited menu option was free but everything else was a charge.

The five course prix fixe menu in Eataly is extremely heavy on meat and fatty meat at that. But it was vey good if you can pick through it. We had a lighter meal in Galaxy the next night with a beautiful view out the wall of plate glass windows. Yes, the whole ship is not dark, thankfully.

On the subject of food, we spoke with a CC member who had been in the YC on the previous cruise but who was now in a regular cabin. I asked him to compare the two restaurants and he replied he did not see significant difference between Le Muse and the regular dinery. Wow. Regardless of that observation, there is no way I would travel on MSC other than in the YC which we really enjoyed.

Thank you for your thoughts :)

 

May I ask what were your major disappointments?

Based on what I had read on CC, I had expected a spectacular ship and outstanding dining in Le Muse Neither was the case. The public areas are dark and cramped, the food was unimaginative and of average preparation

On the positive side the entertainment was excellent, the YC is a really exciting concept, and the service was wonderful throughout. In fact our butler was too anxious to please on several occasions.

Don't get your hopes up too high. I did and my wife wisely cautioned me that I might be headed towards disappointment. We took our first MSC cruise in the Yacht Club on the Divina last week and while there were some excellent moments, there were also some major disappointments. Whether the pluses outweigh the minuses is yet to be determined in my mind, but before boarding, I was actually considering cancelling our upcoming cruise on another line in favor of MSC. That is no longer the case. No doubt you'll have a good time, but you might do well to temper your high hopes and wait and see the actual product. I sure wish you a wonderful cruise.

Will be taking my smartphone along this time. If I accidently turn the data connection on, will it connect automatically, and run my bill up? Or is like WIfI where it only works if you buy time?

 

On Carnival on a flip phone I sent and received a couple of texts. It was pretty cheap. 10 or 15 cents per text. Is that about what it costs on MSC, or a lot more?

 

Thanks.

I would put it on airplane mode and purchase some WiFi time I see a constant flow of people at the reception desk with their smartphone in hand trying to log on, apparently. You see, DIVINA has no IT support and people are directed to the "experts" at reception.

We are on the Davina on the June 25th cruise. Which pier will we be at, for planning purposes?

I wish I could tell you the name, but it is near the ferry pier in the middle of the main shopping area. Carnival and RCCL dock at the far end of town, necessitating a cab ride. We have been to Cozumel many times but not in several years. Maybe it's the time of year but we found many shops closed and the town pretty dingy. We beat a hasty retreat to the ship without spending peso which pleased me greatly.

Just briefly we are on our first MSC cruise in YC on the Divina. Shows are fantastic and the service is great. Butler is extremely attentive. Cabin is clean and the ship is in good repair. However, the ship is dark and almost gloomy. The ceilings are low and the public areas seem cramped. The food in Le Muse is disappointing, no better than what can be found in most decent Italian restaurants. There us no dedicated IT specialist and people with problems are directed to seek help at reception. Good luck with that. Oh, I tried to cash a travelers check and was told there was a 15 per cent commission by a guy who might be a manager. If I return, it will only be in YC which is outstanding with the exception of Le Muse

Thanks, all. Guess I'll just wait and see

Mr. Iluvcruising2,

I have suffered through many "reviews" on CC, but yours wasn't just interesting and helpful; it was a spectacular exposition of all the things I needed to know and hoped to learn about before embarking. Truly, a tour de force for which my DW and I are in your debt. Thanks a million

I don't know about RI pizza, but I was raised on NYC and NJ pizza and we never put toppings on it because it was so tasty without having to junk it up. In Virginia finding something decent is a challenge but they sure have good barbecue. Apropos of this why do people say MAzzarela when the word is clearly spelled MOzzarela?

I assume future cruise bookings can be made while on board. Are there benefits to doing so?

Once onboard, you will meet the Matri d in the Yacht Club and choose what time you wish to dine They will hold your table for that time. If you just show up you may or not be seated. We have seen folks waiting as we left.

Having to wait never bothers us but having to eat when we're not in the mood would certainly bother us. We're happy to take our chances.

Bosox1 - I meant to say Kabir NOT Kalib! :)

I never would have known:p Thanks for the information. We never know in advance when we want to eat. Accent on the second syllable, I assume

Speaking of Le Muse, is it set time dining can I walk in at any time and ask for a table?

Think of it like the data usage on your cell phone,,,if you have apps open on your phone,,tablet,,computer,,some will use data(mega-bytes) if connected to the internet. Data upload and download,,e-mail send, e-mail receive,, all consume data(mega-bytes). Determining exactly how much each app uses is difficult to track and there's really no way to calculate how much data you will use at any given time.

MSC's system will tell you how much data you have used and how much you have left. :)

Thanks, Mike. As long as I know what my status data wise is, I can handle it/

I'm at a loss to speak MBs and have no idea of what that gets me time wise per day. Can it be translated? No pix, just emails and internet news

Xcelerate is the new Celebrity internet package. It's often part of their perks offers.

Ha! I've got it on our next cruise but didn't recognize the name. Thanks

It has often been said. The Xcelerate perk is the most flexible one. It doesn’t cost a lot to Celebrity. So I beleive Celebrity could use it to develop new kinds of perks like Book your shore excursion or diner package now and get free access to internet. I beleive that would be very popular.

Okay. I'm going to show my stupidity once again. What is the Xcelerate perk?

I don't need any more Elite+ benefits. Celebrity will get our business as long as it provides things that are important to us, namely, reasonable price and interesting itineraries. We'll jump to Princess in a heartbeat if it provides a better situation, as we're Elite there, too. The price on X for some of the cruises we are interested in is outrageously high and that has set us off looking for alternatives

Here's the interesting thing. This week we became Black on MSC, their highest rating, even though we have not ever set foot on a MSC ship. We've read that the MSC ships are magnificent but the food in the lower cabin categories tends towards "meh". So shortly we will take a cruise in their Yacht Club which gets outstanding grades for food, drinks, service, and other amenities. As many of you know, the YC is a private area with its own restaurant, bars, and pool. Far from the madding crowd, apparently. The price is comparable to what we pay for a suite on X, so if it's as good as advertised, it would be very easy to say goodbye to Celebrity and Princess. Loyalty only goes so far !

As others have stated the suite benefits on Celebrity overlap the Elite+ benefits, making a switch even easier. Time will tell

I should add that we took two cruises on Celebrity in the early 1990s and were completely unimpressed with the food and MDR service. We quickly returned to Princess and Cunard. But when we decided to try X again more recently, we found that the food had improved tremendously from our earlier experiences. So, when I hear others complain about how the quality and service have declined on Celebrity, I scratch my head for our experience is quite different, though Princess' food and restaurant layouts are still our first choice. Tastes do differ

Deck 6 has the smallest Aft S1' patios; also deck 10 on some have the window washing machines. Also, sometimes there are issues with the top deck and they are on due to the OVC and noise.

This is good advice. We always go for the 7th or 8th but the 9th would probably be fine, too. Check the S Class sticky on the opening page. Lots of good stuff there

After I got the confirmation, I asked my TA about the 5%. He checked with MSC to make sure that everything was in order and told me that I would get the 5% refunded to my credit card in 7-10 days, as I was already paid in full.

Now that's what I wanted to hear. :D Thanks for the information