Guests at Blu?

[notjaded]

I know that Blu is reserved for Aqua Class and Suite voyagers. Is one able to bring along guests from other cabin classes? If so, is the charge made to them or to the Aqua Class cabin?

 

Many thanks!

[Wine-O]

Guests are not allowed -- and they are very, very strict about it.

[galavant3]

That has been our experience as well. It is a relatively small dining room and they just can't accommodate guests.

[warmwinds]

This has come up before with friends/family traveling together, and someone has booked Aqua Class and the others have not...does not work. Either everyone or no one, or dine separately.

 

If it just a one time thing, you can all go together to a specialty restaurant or the AQ people can join you in the MDR if they make advance plans.

[notjaded]

Thanks all! Your answers--as I anticipated!

[WestLakeGirl]

As you said, Blu is reserved for Aqua class and Suites

[Phxazzcruisers]

Unless the guests are in a Royal Suite or Penthouse. sorry definitely not.

[WestLakeGirl]

Not just those two classes of suite, any suite guests can request Blu and its on a space available basis for those non AQ passengers, no other non AQ passengers can join you there

[Phxazzcruisers]

Not just those two classes of suite, any suite guests can request Blu and its on a space available basis for those non AQ passengers, no other non AQ passengers can join you there

 

Suite guests are on a space available bias, but Royal Suites and Penthouse are never turned down. We know this from experience

[WestLakeGirl]

Never is a long time:):) and once the new suite dining rooms are put in, who knows what will happen regarding suites and Blu

[Phxazzcruisers]

Never is a long time:):) and once the new suite dining rooms are put in, who knows what will happen regarding suites and Blu

You are correct, however I was answering the question for the present, not for the future after April of next year.

[cynbar]

Has anyone posted about cruisers in a Celebrity Suite or even a Sky Suite turned away from Blu?

[cruisestitch]

It has happened that they were not accommodated, do a search and you can find reports. More commonly they may be told that they can't eat there at their preferred time.

[bighairtexan]

Sky Suite in September. No problem eating in Blu if we wanted and were able to avoid peak times. Mostly no problem at any time.

[cherylroslyn]

Suite guests are on a space available bias, but Royal Suites and Penthouse are never turned down. We know this from experience

Yes they are. A cruise critic regular sailing in the Penthouse was turned down. I believe it may have been holiday cruise...but still....I was shocked by that.

[hcat]

Never is a long time:):) and once the new suite dining rooms are put in, who knows what will happen regarding suites and Blu

 

Have wondered what will happen as well. Maybe suite pax will continue to have access.

 

.BLU Access is what sells AQ. If it is open to all on space available basis it may not be worth it to book BLU...guess we'll see what happens

Edited October 5, 2014 by hcat

[Phxazzcruisers]

Yes they are. A cruise critic regular sailing in the Penthouse was turned down. I believe it may have been holiday cruise...but still....I was shocked by that.

 

I am also shocked. We have been in the Penthouse on many cruises and have never been turn down, in fact the Matre De's all said that it is definitely not a problem when we inquired if it would be ok to eat there. This was also on Christmas and New Year holiday cruises.

[ghstudio]

I am also shocked. We have been in the Penthouse on many cruises and have never been turn down, in fact the Matre De's all said that it is definitely not a problem when we inquired if it would be ok to eat there. This was also on Christmas and New Year holiday cruises.

 

You shouldn't be shocked....some maitre d's run the restaurant based on the published policy...others are more flexible. Happens everywhere.... Just because you paid a great deal for your cabin doesn't automatically entitle you to change policy. If it worked for you...great....but don't expect it on every cruise because you may find that you aren't allowed to eat in blu if it's busy.

 

One of the reasons they have such trouble on the reflection is that they let suite guests in at any time....and the restaurant just isn't sized for that load, so the people who paid extra to be in aqua and expect to be seated when they come, have to wait.

Edited October 5, 2014 by ghstudio

[Orator]

I am also shocked. We have been in the Penthouse on many cruises and have never been turn down, in fact the Matre De's all said that it is definitely not a problem when we inquired if it would be ok to eat there. This was also on Christmas and New Year holiday cruises.

 

Every can be a totally different experience depending on the Maître 'd and demand. Remember the term " consistent inconsistency". I had one maître 'd insist on the $5 charge when others didn't. I didn't fight it, but later verified that he was wrong. Reflection is most likely to have a problem since they have AQ Suites. That's why Reflection offers specials to reduce the demand for Blu. The AQ Suites will be reclassified as Sky Suites and that should remove some of the pressure on Blu. Remember the new Suite perks will offer unlimited Specialty Restaurants for to suites and that should also reduce demand for the new Suite Restaurant and free up some space. We'll know more after April, 2015.

[warmwinds]

Would they ever consider the new suite dining room to be reciprocal with Blu? I mean, if there is a suite passenger eating in Blu, there will be a vacancy in the suite dining room, right?

 

Uh, didn't think so.

[ghstudio]

It never made logical sense that when they introduced blu, they didn't invite suite guests to dine there as well. However, from a practical standpoint, they didn't want to commit that much space to Blu. One of the drivers for aqua class on the M-class ships is that the cabins on deck 9 are directly under the pool deck so they were never the "choice" cabins. By creating aqua, they were able to sell those cabins.

 

Everything breaks down when you have a ship like the reflection where Celebrity wants everyone to love the ship and have a wonderful experience so they never say no. In addition to not adding enough extra seats to Blu to handle the new aqua cabins, they let suite guests dine there when they arrived.....to make them happy. The result has been a "not so great" dining experience.

 

Note: when they built the reflection Celebrity said they were adding, I believe, 24 seats to blu but when the ship actually started to cruise, reports are that those seats were never added.

 

Since we travel in aqua and like blu, we won't book a cruise on the reflection.

[Phxazzcruisers]

Yes, I understand that each ship Matre De is different. I am only "shocked" as we were in a Penthouse on the last 5 cruises aboard Celebrity in 5 different ships including Reflection and as i said, each and every Matre De welcomed us with open arms. Maybe it is because we did not assume we would be allowed in but asked politely. It could also be because we like to eat early, before the main rush.

[warmwinds]

"early" - that was probably it. We were among those who went as soon as it opened and we never saw Blu filled, ever. There were always tables available in the 5:15 to 7 timeframe. (and yes, on our cruise, Blu started opening at 5:15).

[Orator]

Yes, I understand that each ship Matre De is different. I am only "shocked" as we were in a Penthouse on the last 5 cruises aboard Celebrity in 5 different ships including Reflection and as i said, each and every Matre De welcomed us with open arms. Maybe it is because we did not assume we would be allowed in but asked politely. It could also be because we like to eat early, before the main rush.

 

I completely understand what you are saying. PH passengers are treated like gold. They are highly valued by Celebrity. Recent changes only underline their importance. I've seen so many staff go more than the extra mile to please them. There was a PH guest on one of my more recent cruises who ordered a drink that was beyond the Premium Package limit and not a normal option in Michael's Club. It was brought to him whenever he wanted it. Any past problems will vanish when the new Suite benefits for RS and PH appear. Guess I've been around long enough so that very few things surprise me.

[hcat]

Wow..5:15 is really early......

 

we booked Refection for Nov being unaware of the Blu crowding issue, so hope we find a good strategy to have dinner at our preferred time of 6 to 6:30...we consider that early.,

 

how is breakfast in BLU on Reflection.?.....we usually go early and then stop into the Elite get tigether for ciffee/tea.

 

guess we'll find out how the suite and BLU dining work out on all the ships in the spring

Edited October 5, 2014 by hcat