Elite Lounge Hours - possible change

[Christine Frances]

It has changed to 5-7!

 

Yes - the Elite Lounge is 5-7 but the MDR early seating is at 6! BeachBuddy want the lounge hours to be from 6-8:confused:

[Beach Nut]

I'd like to start off by thanking Celebrity for the new hours of 5 to 7 for the Elite Onboard Libation Immersion Program. :D

 

This makes it at least possible for us to participate on our next cruise. :) It was way too early for us on our recent first qualifying cruise. :(

 

Although we also would find a 6 to 8 fit much better for us, I feel it would be unreasonable to expect others to fit into our typically late personal schedule.

 

If Celebrity would like to tweak this perk a bit further (at a later time - I'm not suggesting another change so soon) two possibilities come to mind:

 

1. Expand the hours, or

2. Give every Elite passenger 2 free drinks per day at any bar on board, so that they can have their pre-dinner drinks whenever they want them. Passengers could be charged for the tips only.

 

(When I ran this by DH, he thought they were both good ideas, but added that, from a business perspective, if the hours were 6 to 8 they'd probably be "giving away a lot more alcohol".)

[jackdiamond]

Beach Nut,

I like your no. 2, provided they continue the morning bloody marys in Michael's Club, without charging same to the 2 drink coupon. By the way, as I recall Royal, before the change reducing the perks for the Diamonds, they provided a coupon for a couple of free drinks for Diamonds in addition to the afternoon happy hour.

[excitedofharpenden]

2. Give every Elite passenger 2 free drinks per day at any bar on board, so that they can have their pre-dinner drinks whenever they want them. Passengers could be charged for the tips only.

 

That would take away the social aspect of the event. Part of the deal for many. It wouldn't work in my view.

 

The time is never going to be right for everyone. I always dine late. I was happy with the previous time and I'm happy with this one. It isn't a big deal to me to get my free drinks. Just nice to socialise generally. My main issue with the last cruise I was on and to a lesser extent the one before that was the large number of Elites in the lounge that made proper socialising in a busy environment more difficult.

 

Phil

[MartinsCruise]

Next month we will be sailing for the first time as Elite and are looking forward to "Happy Hour", not only for the free drinks but to get together with others who love sailing on Celebrity. It wasn't easy getting here but we did it! In the past we would get together with other CCers before dinner in the Martini Bar so this will take the place of that for us. We are also trying Select Dining for the first time so it doesn't matter as much what hours the Elite lounge is open. Because I don't want to give up the martinis, we'll have to visit the Martini Bar after dinner. :D

[MrCruzdoggie]

I don't like that at all:eek: We have early seating so we don't get the full benefit. (1 hr) The people who dine late have 2 hrs!! What's with that!! We had a wonderful time on the Millie where both dining times were accommodated each night. Not happy:(

 

I find it odd you are crying about this, oh sorry no I'm not surprised...

[beachbuddy]

It has changed to 5-7!

 

Oh, thank you. I'm very happy that it changed. We still might not make every night, that's for sure, but at least we'll be able to make some of the nights, maybe the sea days.

[beachbuddy]

Great!!! I hope they change the hours to 5-7!!! Actually, 6-8 would even be better.......this way early dinner could stop in before and after dinner and late dinner could stop in prior to going to dinner at 8:30.

 

Huh!! Early seating is at 6:confused:

 

Oh sorry, I thought it was 6:30.......my mistake. Early seating will still get an hour and I don't think late seating would get there any earlier than 6 pm so that might even help with any overcrowding issues.

[beachbuddy]

Yes - the Elite Lounge is 5-7 but the MDR early seating is at 6! BeachBuddy want the lounge hours to be from 6-8:confused:

 

LOL.......:o Sorry.......that was a typo. I meant 5 to 8 and I only said that because on RCCL, Happy Hour is 5 to 8:00 but we always stayed there till it was time to go to dinner so maybe it was till 8:30. It works very well with RCCL's hours. Early seating has time to go and late seating doesn't have to get dressed so early to be there. There were plenty of nights that a few at early seating stopped back in after dinner for a drink. We usually went around 7 pm and it was nice to just sit and chat with others before going to dinner.

 

I'm happy that they at least changed the time to 5-7, that's at least better than 4-6.

[beachbuddy]

I'd like to start off by thanking Celebrity for the new hours of 5 to 7 for the Elite Onboard Libation Immersion Program. :D

 

This makes it at least possible for us to participate on our next cruise. :) It was way too early for us on our recent first qualifying cruise. :(

 

Although we also would find a 6 to 8 fit much better for us, I feel it would be unreasonable to expect others to fit into our typically late personal schedule.

 

If Celebrity would like to tweak this perk a bit further (at a later time - I'm not suggesting another change so soon) two possibilities come to mind:

 

1. Expand the hours, or

2. Give every Elite passenger 2 free drinks per day at any bar on board, so that they can have their pre-dinner drinks whenever they want them. Passengers could be charged for the tips only.

 

(When I ran this by DH, he thought they were both good ideas, but added that, from a business perspective, if the hours were 6 to 8 they'd probably be "giving away a lot more alcohol".)

 

My vote would be to expand the hours! LOL;);)

[beachbuddy]

Beach Nut,

I like your no. 2, provided they continue the morning bloody marys in Michael's Club, without charging same to the 2 drink coupon. By the way, as I recall Royal, before the change reducing the perks for the Diamonds, they provided a coupon for a couple of free drinks for Diamonds in addition to the afternoon happy hour.

 

I don't ever remember RCCL giving free drink coupons but maybe they did before we started cruising with them. They used to have a buy one get one free coupon in their coupon book but last time we sailed them, that coupon was gone from the book. The coupon book was pretty useless. There used to be a free Johnny Rockets coupon in each of our books too but they took that one out as well. I did hear that they changed the books again so don't know if any of the take aways made it back in again or not.

[Tucker in Texas]

I don't ever remember RCCL giving free drink coupons but maybe they did before we started cruising with them. They used to have a buy one get one free coupon in their coupon book but last time we sailed them, that coupon was gone from the book. The coupon book was pretty useless. There used to be a free Johnny Rockets coupon in each of our books too but they took that one out as well. I did hear that they changed the books again so don't know if any of the take aways made it back in again or not.

 

They gave the free photo back. That's about all I noticed different.

 

Tucker in Texas

[beachbuddy]

They gave the free photo back. That's about all I noticed different.

 

Tucker in Texas

 

Tucker,

Thanks for the information......I was hoping for a few more coupons but that's okay. Photo is good............LOL

[beachbuddy]

I think that this is really a debate on early versus late seating. The only people who want the time to stay are the early seating quests. We are late seating and usually only get into the lounge for the last call if we make it at all. I understand the logistics can be difficult but I'd prefer a 5-6 for early and possibly a 7:30-8:30 for late. This would also alleviate some of the ovecrowding (and abuse...overimbibing). We don't want to kill this very nice golden goose! Am glad that they are beginning to at least consider alternatives.

 

Hey, I actually love your idea!!!!! I think that would be the best solution.........everyone gets 1 hour!!! ....and us late dinners don't have to go so early before our dinner......LOL And the early dinners should be happy because they can spend their hour there too.

[beachbuddy]

Even we don't go there until 5:30 PM anyway (we have early seating) but I will still prefer 4 - 6 time. Some like to go early (at 4 PM) and by 5:30 some already leave MC. But if they change the time from 5-7 then it will be really crowded at the beginning with both seatings at the same time.

 

I'd be very surprised if 2nd seating showed up at 5 pm!!! Honestly, we enjoy the ports and the day as long as it's a nice day.....and we'll probably have a hard time getting there by 6:30. I think this will help with the overcrowding because 1st seating has to leave at 6 pm.

 

Actually, I think it would be great if they did 2 different ones......one for first seating just prior to their dinner and one for late seating just prior to theirs.

 

Problem solved.........everyone will be happy or at least I think they should be.

[beachbuddy]

We would welcome the change to 5-7. 4 PM is way to early if you are active in port and need to come back and get ready. If you want to go, you end up cutting your port time short to come back and shower & change even if you are aiming for getting there at 5, most of the time it is cutting it closer to 5:30 / 5:45 depending on when full day excursions come back. The current 4-6 time is completely useless for late seating on a port intensive itinerary.

 

I agree with you. Honestly, we always do late seating because we stay in port till we have to come back to the ship......usually 5 pm or later so even if we had early seating we would never make a 5 pm cocktail hour so we'd probably never go. We like to rest a bit when we get back from port.

[beachbuddy]

The compromise would be to extend the time, change it to 4-7 that way we early diners would not be limited to 1 hour. There were a lot of late diners who attended on the Millie and worked it into their schedules. I'm all for making it more accessible to the late diners but I don't think it should be at the early seatings expense:(

 

It's not at the early seatings expense!!! You get an hour......doubt if many late seating people will be there that early so they'll get an hour too. I don't think Celebrity did it to give late diners 2 hours but rather to make it more accessible to late diners. If you want to start drinking at 4 pm, there's plenty of bars onboard.:rolleyes: You should be grateful that Celebrity even does this so be happy that you have an hour. When on vacation we don't have a schedule so don't feel that we'd have to work it into our schedule when early seating doesn't have to - we just wouldn't go.

 

From what I've been reading on these boards, a lot of early seating people don't get there till around 5 pm anyway.

[beachbuddy]

But it does not benefit both seatings! We only get 1 hour!

 

Hmmmm, maybe you could fit late seating into your schedule and then you can spend ALL 2 hours there!!!

[beachbuddy]

On the Millie there were a lot of us that enjoyed being "stuck" in a room between 4 & 6:D We met almost every evening and had a great time. I can understand why they asked why you didn't attend - you were missing out on a great chance to interact with fellow cruisers!. I get it, 5-7 works best for people who dine later but I would like a 2 hour "flex" time to go to Micheal's as well. I never stayed for 2 hours but knew I had that time to drop in at what ever fit my schedule. I just feel the ambiance won't be the same with all the early diners lining out the door at 5 to get tables and meet up with friends for 1 hour. With the hours being 4-6 it was open to late diners and they were able to attend but some chose not to (many did attend), with 5-7, early diners are effectively had access reduced to 1 hour. I would be more than happy with the hours of 4-7 which would give everyone equal access.

I don't know where all the other early seating people are on this board - I feel that I am standing our here without my asbestos suit on waiting to get nailed but I am sad that this would affect my cruise experience as we really enjoyed this CC amenity.

 

4 to 7 is not equal access......LOL Are you sure you'd be good with that......that would only give you 2 hours and it would give me 3......LOL

 

However, I'd probably only use 1/2 hour out of those 3 because I'd rather be on my balcony relaxing and looking at the beautiful views.

[beachbuddy]

RCI offers free wine and a 25% discount on drinks. I'm not sure which category beer falls in. It's comparing apples and oranges to compare X Elite happy hour and what RCI does.

We usually have early dining or Select and I prefer 5 to 7 for Elite cocktails.

 

RCCL offers all drinks (no frozen ones), beer and wine in their Diamond Lounge along with a table set up with appetizers (both hot and cold ones, wings, eggrolls, shrimp, veggies, etc.). Diamond and Diamond+ can use the lounge.

 

The free wine, champaign, soda and 25% off drinks is at the Diamond Event. The Diamond Event was a new thing on the smaller ships that never had a lounge to begin with, but all the Freedom and Oasis class ships have a Diamond Lounge.

[beachbuddy]

It seems that so many Late Seating diners seem to think that 5-7 would be fair...SO...as a "modest proposal", how would you feel about this:

 

SHIFT the hours all the way to 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm?

EARLY Seating diners could avail themselves of two hours of free drinking...

...and the late seating diners could still pop in for a drink or two before rushing off to dinner...

 

NOW, THAT's fair, correct? Everyone gets to drink...

You late seating folks won't have to worry about coming in out of the sun early or rushing back from port or having to get dressed for dinner too early...

 

So what if the bulk of it conflicts with your dinner reservation? Everyone gets a shot...and the lounge won't be all that crowded because some of the guests will be at dinner...

 

;) ;)

 

Well, that's not fair because that only gives late seating 1/2 hour for the lounge...........but 7:30 works for me! That would be perfect for late seating!!! Cocktails at 7:30 and dinner at 8:30. That would give late seating an hour and that's all anyone needs. That's why it's called Cocktail Hour!!!

[Beach Nut]

Beach Nut,

I like your no. 2, provided they continue the morning bloody marys in Michael's Club, without charging same to the 2 drink coupon. By the way, as I recall Royal, before the change reducing the perks for the Diamonds, they provided a coupon for a couple of free drinks for Diamonds in addition to the afternoon happy hour.

 

Aloha, Monsieur Diamond

 

In no way would I ever hope to suggest anything that might result in rescinding the happy practice of breakfast Mimosas and Bloody Marys on vacation holidays. :D I would be as staunch an ally as could be imagined in this regard if X chose to follow such a path. Even though I don't usually partake this early myself, on the occasions that I have, it has been most enjoyable.

 

No. The thrust here amongst us mayhap ought to be to suggest to Celebrity how they might refine and augment the perks, not reduce or eliminate them. :) I notice that their prices have risen over last year. I also notice in my own mindset that I am now loath to consider sailing on another line, due to:

1. the hitherto installed, and hopefully, more regularly enforced, smoking policy, and

2. the price-point for "whatcha get", and

3. the laundry, internet and booze perks - now that we have attained Elite status.

 

I think that Celebrity management is pretty savvy. And, let's face it, willing to take a calculated risk (based on Oceania's wildly successful and meteoric rise): remember how many doom-sayers were predicting X's demise a short while ago for the then newly instituted smoking policy?

 

O well, now I'm rambling, I fear. Best go and make that second gin and tonic.

 

Happy armchair sailing, fellow cruise nuts. :)

[beachbuddy]

Sorry to the early diners for missing out on an additional hour of free drinks and socializing. But think of it this way, 9only in order to relate to the late diners) as a comparison to late diners, you would have to start the cocktail hours at 1:30 in the afternoon(essentially 4 and 1/2 hours before your 6 pm dining). That is why many of the late diners forgo the cocktail hour. They don't want to have their drinks that early before dinner. Just a thought!

 

And yes I have been in early seatings and late and select seatings, and I just go with the flow. Not trying to play favorite to one group or another.

 

Heeheehee, if I started drinking at 4 pm on an empty stomach I don't think I'd be making dinner at 8:30..........LOL:D:D

[gagirl7143]

As a first seating guest.... Why now just make the Happy Hr Event 4 to 7 and give all equal time????? Simple as that..... was that so hard?????? Solves the time bit very well......

[Tucker in Texas]

Personally, I think the reason it was originally set at 4-6 was because they need the servers to be in other venues when the bars get busy starting at 6:00 p.m. with "paying customers." Between 4-6, they can "spare" servers a lot easier than 5-7.

 

I know on the Eclipse, they held it in the Sky Lounge and the same servers worked the lounge all night.

 

Tucker in Texas