Shiba_Lover

Thank you for taking the time to write this up. It gives me something to think about. We have a cruise coming up in 2 weeks on Summit in a Celebrity Suite. I do think that the service on the E class ships in retreat is not as personalized as in the S class ships. I'll see if I can confirm this - was last on Apex in a suite. I might want to give another look at MSC. It seems like the personal touches that the Retreat used to be. If the experience is not the same - this might be a good choice going forward. Although I am unsure how I would feel about staying in the yacht club area the whole time.....

You can put a hold on the rooms you choose. Give the reservation numbers to the other parties and have them call in to reserve. Online, you can see which rooms are available to book together. If you use a TA - you can just tell them to look for rooms close together. I would guess it is a mix of people doing it on their own or using a TA. TAs can often give a little better rate or some extra on board credit.

I'm almost wondering if this is not an edge class ship issue. I've previously sailed in the Retreat on non-edge class ships then this summer sailed on Apex for the first time. I felt Luminae was a bit diminished then (which was pre all this "what is X doing" discussion. Maybe it is due to the sheer size of Luminae and the number of guests on an e class ship. I'll be back on the Summit in in a suite in 2 weeks and will see then.

It is about 30 days now. They become available when the e-docs are available.

Here is some info on the status match - MSC status match: How status with another cruise line got me perks with MSC - The Points Guy If you click "this chart" in there, it looks like you'll get diamond

I only clicked this to see if someone were somehow blaming Celebrity for this.

This deal seems to never end

They can eliminate the "savories" delivered to your room in the afternoon. It is almost always something you don't want to eat because A) you are not hungry or B) it is not food safe. Example - sushi. I am immune compromised and can't eat it anyway. My husband is not going to eat sushi that has been sitting out for who knows how long. We also don't want cheese that has been sitting out for who knows how long. I mean, I appreciate that they may be dropping off a little snack - but if it is not food safe - I'm not risking it. Just stop it. It would save the labor and the food waste. Those who desire a snack in room can arrange something to be delivered at a specific time and then they know it is safe to eat and that it is actually going to be consumed. I'm fine if they eliminate turn down service in most cases. Even being in a suite (I think I read a comment that said to keep this in suites). I always hang my towels after I shower - typically, even if I shower in the afternoon - they are dry by morning. I don't need the chocolate on my pillow - it is not very good anyway. I tend to keep my room fairly tidy anyway as I'm sort of OCD - so I don't really need them to come back in the afternoon. If I've had a drink in the room - I do take the empty glass back out with me when I leave and drop it at the next bar I come across. I recognize carrying out and dropping off glasses may be difficult for someone who uses crutches/cane or a wheelchair or has some issues with their hands - so others may indeed need their room refreshed in the afternoons. I think that therefore - totally eliminating the service may not be good - so people who need or want to have their rooms refreshed should be able to just call and request. I've seen ideas to have some different restaurants offering smaller bites to eat for dinner - that would be a great idea - salads, sandwiches, etc - at an included price. Something like what Eden does at lunch but for dinner - that would be fantastic. Give people who don't want a full sit down meal an easy option that is not the buffet. I do think the buffet is a big food waste at dinner, but it is really the only option if someone does not want an entire sit-down served meal.

This is a fantastic idea. Not everyone wants a full sit down 3 course meal, and it eliminates the waste of a buffet

Don't get ahead of yourself. The way things are trending by then, there will be an Elite Plus Plus and a Zenith Jr. Zenith will then be 10,000 points. So, you are not quite there yet 🙂

not perfectly - more like normal ice color. I think just regular ice but in large cubes. Not like if you go to a real artisan craft cocktail bar.

We have been given large cubes in the Eden bar in certain cocktails. I believe they were the big square. cubes.

They really should offer a GF bun option. Or maybe they throw the buns on the grill and therefore did not want to risk serving the burgers?

The authorized user offer Worked too. So, I redeemed my offer for spend 1k, get a 350 statement credit and my authorized user redeemed his offer for spend 500 get a 175 statement credit. Both were used to pay off the balance on an existing Galapagos cruise.

We board in 2 weeks. I will take along masks and wear them in crowded areas. Also plan to wear on the flights. I am immune compromised, so don't want to risk it. Despite being vaxxed and boosted - still managed to catch covid on last summer's TA. Husband woke up one morning with a slight sore throat so I had him take one of the at-home tests I brought - it had a very faint line on positive. I took a test and it was negative. I called medical. They came up to swab us and both of our tests then came back positive. We were near the end of our journey, but went into quarantine over the next cruise. When we came out - the number of passengers that were coughing and hacking was unreal - and ALL of them were saying they had "allergies". We wore masks the rest of that cruise. We ran into several people who were on the TA with us and they said that masking was implemented due to the high number of covid cases on the last 2 days of the cruise. Fortunately, we did not get too sick, and the ship did care for us. So - I guess - you just never know. No idea if we caught it onboard, on shore, etc. We wore masks when it was crowded on board, wore them on the shuttles into town (in two ports near the end). We did not do any group excursions, and we did not get ill until day 10, so who knows????

I don't know if they provide a stopper. So if you don't plan on drinking the whole bottle at once, you may want to throw one of those rubber stoppers in your bag too.

We've ordered things not on the menu - example is an Aviation. Only able to do it in Eden as it was the only bar that had maraschino liqueur (ordered an Aviation with Bombay Sapphire). They basically charge you based on the call liquor. So if your drink had Cointreau, it would be charged as premium. If you wanted to sub a less expensive version (say well version of Cointreau - I'm guessing they've got some basic triple sec onboard) - they could do it as a classic too

Here's just two of them.... But there's many others

Sorry for your loss

I'm not sure they "sell out" in advance, but they manage the location based on number of participants. For example Tuscan if less people vs a portion of MDR if more people. That's how it was explained by the sommelier. Then of course it may be sold out on board once they set the number of anticipated people based on pre boarding sign ups.

Oh - and also in Luminae - they can also omit for example shrimp from soup and things like that. Like if they have "shrimp in curry broth" you could ask for just the broth - they way they present it is usually the bowl with shrimp then pour the curry broth in. So - just keep that in mind too.

We did a TA over this past summer (late May) and we had an aft suite. We enjoyed the balcony a bit, but honestly - there was a ton to do out and about on sea days around the ship. We had coffee on the balcony a few mornings. The butler brought us some blankets and we had those on the balcony. But it was a bit chilly. The retreat sundeck was great in the afternoons. It is in the front of the ship and there is a large glass which does block the wind. Really nobody (well, very few) were in swimsuits as it was just a bit cool, but it was a really nice place for an afternoon sun spot / reading and a nice drink. We did enjoy it a many times. They have blankets there (same ones the butler brought to our room) and you can sit on the lounger with a blanket if it is too chilly - but we found the afternoons fine. What WAS cool - the walking track. So if you like to do the walking / jogging track - bring something warm for that.

There are a set of "classics" that you are able to order from with no issue. This is things like a chicken breast, caesar salad, french onion soup, and a few others. Outside of that - they CAN get other items from the MDR - but it is not the norm. I ordered an appetizer one or two nights and I asked them at breakfast for it later that same night. The reason it is not as easy as on an S class ship for example is that the MDR kitchen is on deck 3 (?) while Luminae kitchen is on deck 12. So they basically like to get the food up really early so they do not disrupt their entire flow of service. I think these classics are things they have in their own kitchen while others they must obtain from the MDR. On The Summit for example, MDR and Luminae share a kitchen, so it is very easy to get an entree from the MDR. You can of course go to the MDR to eat, and those rooms are actually very nice and also have individual tables.

Thanks everyone - we should be fine! We'll just do the self-debarkation and take it easy.

My $350 statement credit hit today. My offer was spend $1000, get $350 statement credit. I paid part of my Galapagos cruise balance a few days ago, and checked today. The $350 statement credit is there. Two days ago, my husband had an offer for for spend 500, get 500 statement credit. We redeemed that. When he gets home, I will use his card to pay down the balance and we'll see what happens. (Zero expectations that it will add a credit as he is an associate card - but we'll see what if anything happens).