terrydtx

I think the reason why I hate pork and beans is as a kid my parents had very little money and too often we had canned baked beans with those canned Vienna sausages and I thought the whole dish was horrible. For the same reasons I will never eat SPAM.

Our son-in-law is so allergic to MSG that for him it can be life threatening. When they visit I have to read every label of anything I serve him as MSG is still in way to many things.

I have asked and was told that they do not use any MSG, which also bothers me too.

We have done the OVC for dinner on occasions where we came back late or after long hot shore tours and not wanting to get dressed up in more than shorts for Luminae. I always enjoyed the Asian or the India food stations for a nice change of pace.

We expected more kids on the Reflection last August and we saw very few on the cruise, might have been affected by Covid since Celebrity still required full vaccination status and a negative test 2 days prior. to boarding.

Do I hear some Jealousy? We sail only in suites on Celebrity and have been for years. The Retreat product is the ONLY thing that keeps us with Celebrity for now. However, some of the same complaints from non-suites spills over to the suites.

They better have enough staff as most of their 2023 cruises are no longer sailing with reduced passenger load, so demand for food and services will be increasing.

When I looked at the Duty Free liquor on the ship, it was priced at about the same prices I pay at Total Wine & More here at home and then I have to get it home when flying home.

Last year we had a lot of OBC credit and what we didn't use for shore excursions, I spent in the shops for a couple of Tommy Bahama shirts that I really liked and they were reasonably priced. TB shirts are way better than buying Celebrity branded shirts that you can't really wear too much. I do not know how it was done, but after we got home from the cruise, I got a $50 Tommy Bahama gift certificate in the mail as a reward for my recent TB purchases. The only recent TB purchases were the ones on the Reflection.😎 We have $1200 OBC on our Apex cruise in September and I hope to buy a couple more TB shirts.

On our Reflection cruise from Rome last August, I would guess majority of the 1600 passengers were US citizens, next UK and then English-speaking Europeans. We also had many from Australia who had been locked down for 2 years. It was a welcomed diverse passenger mix, and we enjoyed interacting with so many none US citizens. Since we had just booked our 2024 Australian/NZ cruises, I learned much valuable information from the Australians we met onboard.

When we sailed on HAL we would go to the buffet when it opened in the evenings just to see the MDR entrees for that night, made it easier to decide what to order in the MDR. After sailing last summer on the HAL Oosterdam following our Reflection cruise, I would have to agree with your food comment. I can honestly say the Oosterdam MDR food, overall was better than the food in the Reflection Luminae. We had for the first time, more misses than hits in Luminae. Fortunately, the food isn't the main reason we cruise Celebrity, the Retreat overall is a much better experience than the suites on HAL. We have two cruises this year in Sky Suites on Equinox and Apex, if the food is no better than the Reflection last year, we may be rethinking our two Edge cruises in 2024 and looking at Viking or Oceania.

on the Luminae menu on the same night one entree is Broiled Scallops "Surf and Turf" with the turf being grilled pork belly. Could the pork belly be the repurposed pork fat from the can of beans in the MDR?

Funny you say that, in Luminae on the same night one entree is Broiled Scallops "Surf and Turf" with the turf being grilled pork belly. The fat from the can of beans is being repurposed in the Luminae S & T, 🤣

The grass is not always greener, we sailed almost exclusively on HAL from 2010 to 2019 and we found being in our early 70's was too young for HAL and the mediocrity of their food and service. We made 4 Star in their loyalty program and after using up our FCC's on the Oosterdam last year we are done with HAL. Now after making Elite with Celebrity we may be going on to more premium lines like Oceania and Viking Ocean after our next 4 cruises.

Our MDR menu on the Equinox for our June 4th cruise now shows Pork and Beans as an entree on day 6 of the cruise in the app, this wasn't there previously. Oh well we are in a suite so we will be in Luminae.

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The only general Retreat facility missing is the Retreat sun deck. Michaels Club is the exclusive private retreat lounge. Once Revolutionized, Michael's Club becomes the Retreat Lounge.

I am fine with shorts in Luminae at night as long as Celebrity improves the food quality and entree selections.

I would never block you, 😍I just checked and in 20+ years on CC I have only blocked one person who became a stalker that CC eventually removed.

To answer your question, I doubt there are any Sky Suites with a bad or obstructed view. The amenities far outweighs any possible bad views in a SS.

If you have the drink package with AI the drinks are included at any bar.

Here is an excellent website that has tons of pictures and information on most cabins on all Celebrity ships. I use this site to do my research before I book any cruise. Cruise Deck Plan Database and Pictures (cruisedeckplans.com)

Here is a website that has cabin information with some many pictures for most cruise ships. I use it extensively when researching ships and cabins to book. Cruise Deck Plan Database and Pictures (cruisedeckplans.com)

I am so sorry to hear this and you have my condolences. As a long time CC member of over 20 years, I have always enjoyed the Chemmo CC posts.