Recent Experiences with Suite Class Dining in Blu

[Max Circus]

Have a Sky Suite booked for March on Summit. Have read many posts that suite class can dine in Blu on space available basis. Does this apply to breakfast as well as dinner? Do they charge the $5/person at breakfast?

[tangerinebunny]

We were on the Silhouette the first week of December. Breakfasts in Blu for suite passengers were free and no hassle. We just showed up and asked nicely.

 

Dinners are on a availability basis. We told the Michael's Club hostess, who then called Blu and made the request. We waited about fifteen minutes and then she escorted us to Blu. I don't know how it works for Sky Suites.

[ghstudio]

Suite guests are invited to eat breakfast in blu ... It's not on a space available basis...that's only for dinner. No extra charge for breakfast.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[cynbar]

We were on the Silhouette the first week of December. Breakfasts in Blu for suite passengers were free and no hassle. We just showed up and asked nicely.

 

Dinners are on a availability basis. We told the Michael's Club hostess, who then called Blu and made the request. We waited about fifteen minutes and then she escorted us to Blu. I don't know how it works for Sky Suites.

 

This is encouraging, saves you from waiting around with a beeper. Do you happen to know if the concierge does this for Select dining also?

[Max Circus]

Suite guests are invited to eat breakfast in blu ... It's not on a space available basis...that's only for dinner. No extra charge for breakfast.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Thank you!!

[Max Circus]

We were on the Silhouette the first week of December. Breakfasts in Blu for suite passengers were free and no hassle. We just showed up and asked nicely.

 

Dinners are on a availability basis. We told the Michael's Club hostess, who then called Blu and made the request. We waited about fifteen minutes and then she escorted us to Blu. I don't know how it works for Sky Suites.

 

Thank you!!

[Im A Happy Cruiser]

We will be staying in our first suite next month on the Equinox. Is there a $5pp charge for suite guests to dine in Blu for dinner? If so, is that cost just added to your bill when you show your sea pass card?

[cheriooo]

Have a Sky Suite booked for March on Summit. Have read many posts that suite class can dine in Blu on space available basis. Does this apply to breakfast as well as dinner? Do they charge the $5/person at breakfast?

 

On the last 3 cruises we have had a suite and ate in Blue every night we tried. No waiting no issue. We did not pay extra for breakfast but we typically don't eat there for breakfast. It is true suite guest can use Blue on a space available basis but it was never an issue even on formal nights

[ghstudio]

This is encouraging, saves you from waiting around with a beeper. Do you happen to know if the concierge does this for Select dining also?

 

The advantage of a beeper (at least on the infinity) is that you can dine at a specialty restaurant that night for 50% off instead of waiting for blu.

[Caribbean Chris]

We were in a Sky Suite in December (Constellation) and had breakfast in Blu once. It's a very pretty room, and we enjoyed it. (I'd definitely consider booking Aqua now when we don't do a suite because the atmosphere in Blu was quieter and less crowded than the main DR.)

 

We asked about dinners and the host suggested a good time to try was around 8:30. I don't like eating that late so didn't bother with it as we were in the specialty restaurants a few times and thought the main dining room did a good job other nights.

[Tak8]

I was on The Summit Christmas cruise in a Sky Suite. Day 2 of the cruise we went to Blu for breakfast to try something different. As we were eating, the waiter asked why we weren't eating in Blu for dinner. I mentioned that I thought Blu was only available for suite guests if there was availability. He said that suite guests were now welcome for dinner just like Aqua guests. We ate every dinner in there after that, except when we tried Qsine. There was no charge for dinner.

For us, it really made the cruise. We had poor service in the main dining room the first night. The staff in Blu was great.

[Phxazzcruisers]

We are just off the Summit in a Royal Suite and had wonderful dinners in Blu every night with no problem at all. There is no $5.00 pp charge. We also ate breakfast every day in Blu. We love the quieter atmosphere and great service and food

[ghstudio]

I was on The Summit Christmas cruise in a Sky Suite. Day 2 of the cruise we went to Blu for breakfast to try something different. As we were eating, the waiter asked why we weren't eating in Blu for dinner. I mentioned that I thought Blu was only available for suite guests if there was availability. He said that suite guests were now welcome for dinner just like Aqua guests. We ate every dinner in there after that, except when we tried Qsine. There was no charge for dinner.

For us, it really made the cruise. We had poor service in the main dining room the first night. The staff in Blu was great.

 

Confirmation of why there are now long waits for dinner in Blu for aqua guests. We are avoiding cruising on celebrity (aqua class) until the new suite dining room is implemented after our experience on the Infinity TA where there was a long wait for blu every night (7:00 or so)...which we've never had on other cruises.

[need2bespoiled]

We've had mixed experience with the $5 charges, as late as this past November. I believe you're not _supposed_ to get charged anymore, but some Maitre D' s have not received "the memo".

 

The breakfast experience is a bit more quiet than dinner, so it won't quite be the same for dinner. Generally a bit louder and more rushed is out feeling (at least the servers seemed rushed).

 

If you're in a Micheal's Club suite, and don't want to wait in line, for select dining you could sure ask them to call down and have a table ready when you arrived, or to walk you in, I doubt they would say "no" but I have no personal experience with this. There mission is to make the cruise whatever you need it to be, no lines, no waiting when reasonable and possible.

 

Finally, to the poster who thought the MDR was poor service on the first night, this does not surprise me, as they service is not as good on night 1 due to the new cruisers, finding and changing the tables, etc. We've found the MDR as good as Blu on our last few cruises. We eat in set dining in the MDR and feel having the same servers/tables does help with more consistent service than in Select dining where your meal may be a bit out of sync with a large part of the dinning room. When you "one off" in Blu or just a couple times, we've found service is not as good as when they recognize you as when we've eaten regularly in Blu.

 

Just a few thoughts, but suite guests shouldn't worry about eating in Blu, especially as of April when the new dining room opens which will take pressure off Blu because many of the suite guests (as you can see) are dining in Blu on a regular basis.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[hulamoon]

On our recent Summit experience, last month, was the first time we had no charges in Blu. Before it usually showed up at the second evening meal. We ate their most evenings and I feel we had the warmest welcome there as suite guests, just as warm as when we were AQ guests. While the quality was good and better than our last two Blu experiences, it is not quite as amazing as our 2011 and 2012 experiences. I would also say the service was almost as good too. While this may sound critical, we were pleased to see improvement.

 

I suspect the new suite dining room will be as good or better than our original Blu experiences.

 

I might add, we dine early to avoid lines. Our butler suggested we do although we already knew this from previous sailings, even when in AQ we show up early.

[Max Circus]

Thanks for all the additional feedback!! This is helps a lot for my upcoming cruise.

[huskerc]

There's generally no wait very early either.

[Iamthesea]

Suite guests are invited to eat breakfast in blu ... It's not on a space available basis...that's only for dinner. No extra charge for breakfast.

 

Leaving a tip at breakfast... and dinner ...would be nice, however. We did so last Spring when staying in a Suite and dining in Blu. I left a $5 bill at the table each meal.

Edited January 5, 2015 by Iamthesea