Reflection & Blu - comments from a recent cruiser

[tiffnco]

Hi all,

 

Just off the Reflection Eastern Med (WONDERFUL trip BTW) and I wanted to report on a much-discussed topic of late on the service levels and wait times in Blu.

 

We were in a Sky Suite...so we went with the expectation that we might not be able to enjoy Blu since it's mainly reserved for Aqua Class/Aqua Suite passengers. We've sailed in AQ previously and simply adored Blu...so we figured we'd give it a shot and see how we fared.

 

First of all, when we asked our butler, he said..."no problem - you can eat in Blu". So, off we went to check in. We headed down around 7pm (prime dining time) and after providing our name and cabin number...were immediately seated.

 

The service we experienced matched that of the Solstice (ie: no long waiting periods), and in fact...we had the best service of any cruise in a long time. Each night we dined in Blu and never had to wait, was always seated in the same section (we LOVED our waitstaff) and never felt rushed, crowded, or ignored. In fact, everything was simply perfect.

 

The Assistant Maitre' D (Artur) was incredible...he knew everyone's name and cabin number after day 1...and he was always pleased to seat us right away.

 

I just wanted to send this little recap since I've read so many complaints due to the additional suites, not enough tables, etc. We had ZERO negative experiences and were once again reminded why we love Celebrity.

 

Happy to answer any questions...

 

Thanks!

[welshfamily]

Happy to join in here.

Reflection was our best experience EVER in Blu.

We were on the last August sailing.

Artur was incredible, he really did know everyones names, as was our waitress Anna and all the other Blu staff. Standards of food and service were top notch and Vladimir, the Maitre'd help us sort out a special birthday surprise for our Waitress, which gave us all enormous pleasure. Blu pools its extra tips and boy were we happy to contribute.

By the way did anyone else know there are cameras watching you eat in Blu.

I received very overdone French toast one morning for breakfast, tried it, put down my cutlery and before I had chance to think a waiter appeared asking what was wrong. ' I saw you on the camera, is the toast overdone? Angelis is bringing fresh.

However as our cruise was full of guest who liked to eat late we certainly benefitted from eating around 7pm. Fortunately for us that is our preferred time.

Every evening when we left a queue was building so I really can not answer those who ask about this problem. There certainly seemed to be a lot more people eating in Blu than in previous years.

Point to note.

Children were admitted into Blu. They were better behaved that some of the adults and were part of large groups. They were not present every evening but IMHO their presence did not harm the atmosphere.

[scotslizzy]

We are booked in Aqua Class for our next cruise in Jan and have also availed ourselves of Blu when in a suite so we know what to expect .

 

Apart from the cameras ! My God when I think of the times we have shared dinners over the table and the spills I dread to think abut it !

 

Scotlsizzy

[miched]

The problem that I had with Blu on the Reflection was that the tables were so close that the servers could not get between them. I don't like having the server reaching across the table in front of me to serve the person on the other side of the table. Sometimes it is unavoidable when sitting in a booth but when you have a table for 2 they shouldn't have to do that.

 

if you are sitting on the table at the end of the row the waiter can serve the table properly. If you are seated by the window the waiter is not going to walk to the end of the row and back so many times they just reach over and across.

 

To solve that we asked for the end table instead of the window. The window table was never that appealing anyways as the sun was either in your eyes so they pulled down the shade or it was dark.

 

That is what basically makes Blu too crowed for me on the Reflection. They jammed too many tables in to accomodate the extra passengers.

[drychi]

My wife and I enjoyed our first experience in Blu in January, 2013. Had the same experiences as the OP. Looking forward to our next chance to eat there in

January, 2014.

[Phxazzcruisers]

Thanks for your posting. We absolutely love eating in Blu. On our October cruise on the Summit we are in the penthouse and our very good friends are in Aqua Class, We are looking forward to eating dinner in Bu with them every night and hope there wont be an issue. Then Reflection over New Years we booked Aqua Class again, just to eat in Blu. Thanks again for your post. Glad your experience was great

[emileg]

Tiffany: Thanks for your info about being able to eat in Blu when staying in a Sky Suite. That is useful for future planning, especially when they have another good sale on suites. - Emile

[Keith1010]

Enjoyed your post.

 

Keith

[drarill]

Hi all,

 

Just off the Reflection Eastern Med (WONDERFUL trip BTW) and I wanted to report on a much-discussed topic of late on the service levels and wait times in Blu.

 

We were in a Sky Suite...so we went with the expectation that we might not be able to enjoy Blu since it's mainly reserved for Aqua Class/Aqua Suite passengers. We've sailed in AQ previously and simply adored Blu...so we figured we'd give it a shot and see how we fared.

 

First of all, when we asked our butler, he said..."no problem - you can eat in Blu". So, off we went to check in. We headed down around 7pm (prime dining time) and after providing our name and cabin number...were immediately seated.

 

The service we experienced matched that of the Solstice (ie: no long waiting periods), and in fact...we had the best service of any cruise in a long time. Each night we dined in Blu and never had to wait, was always seated in the same section (we LOVED our waitstaff) and never felt rushed, crowded, or ignored. In fact, everything was simply perfect.

 

The Assistant Maitre' D (Artur) was incredible...he knew everyone's name and cabin number after day 1...and he was always pleased to seat us right away.

 

I just wanted to send this little recap since I've read so many complaints due to the additional suites, not enough tables, etc. We had ZERO negative experiences and were once again reminded why we love Celebrity.

 

Happy to answer any questions...

 

Thanks!

 

Thanks for sharing this information. We didn't dined in Blu on the Eclipse but really liked having breakfast there most days. Probably the "suite perk" we enjoyed the most. :):)