Blu on Connie review

[Dorset Cruiser]

We took our first Celebrity cruise last October on Constellation and were surprised at just how bad the MDR was. The tables were so close together that one evening we noticed a woman on a table close to ours had a waiters backside nearly in her face when he was serving the adjacent table. She did not look best pleased. The din in the dining room was awful and the food was amongst some of the worst we have had in 30 cruises.

 

After the big build up we had had about the level of cruise experience we should expect, we were very disappointed and doubt we will try Celebrity again.

 

 

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[VikingRob]

We dined in Blu on the Connie early December and had absolutely none of these problems. Some nights we had 8, sometimes 4 of us and sometimes just the 2. Every night we let them know our intentions for the next night and they were always very accommodating! The entire Blu staff was excellent, in my opinion. Kim

[hcat]

That's good to hear!

 

mdr issues should get solved but not by diverting suite pax to BLU

..starting to pack for Sat..

[travlr21]

My husband and I did a B2B2B in Aqua last fall on the Connie, ending with the TA. On the first 2 cruises we had waits of up to 30 minutes for a table in Blu. We had never seen this before. Our usual routine is to attend the 7PM show and then go immediately for supper, and we never had to wait in the past.

 

I think on the first night of the first cruise we were asked if we wanted to share a table, and we did with 2 other couples. Not the best of experiences. One evening a few days later, because of the wait, we were offered a complimentary meal at the Tuscan Grill. Which of course we accepted.

 

By the TA, we had met two other couples doing the B2B2B and we dined with them in Blu each night. We arrived just before 7PM, and the large round table immediately at the entrance was ours at that time for the entire cruise. (And Miller was our waiter, and he is great.)

 

This will not deter us from Aqua since we do like Blu.

[warmwinds]

Connie is the only M-class ship we have never been on and we're scheduled to sail her next year. It just amazes me the different Celebrity experiences. You would think they would strive for consistency.

 

We had a wonderful experience with Aqua/Blu for the first time on Summit this past September to Canada. I'm hoping in a year the bugs will be worked out (vis a vis the suite passengers being allowed to bypass the line - TO ME (silly me) - space available in Blu means..."when all the Blu passengers have been accommodated, THEN and only then will the suite passengers be allowed" - not the other way around, that suite passengers have precedence over those who specifically selected Aqua and Blu.

 

As I said, silly me.

[bobsfamily]

A month away from a cruise on the Connie and we are in AQ, both for Blu and the deck 11 aft balcony.

I sure hope this is not the case when we are on the ship.

The hotel director would find me sitting on his "doorstep" wanting a reason as to "why'.

We booked AQ with the understanding that Blu was ONLY for AQ with room on space available for suites.

I do understand the PH getting a pass but that could be at most 8 people if both PH had 4 guests each. That should not mess up Blu to much but other suites passengers, nah....

[ptrpanpens]

I hate to say this, but I was very disappointed with the food in Blu on Connie and the food on the cruise in general. This was my first time in Blu and we got rock bottom aqua prices due to the fact that the cruise went to Israel last October and many people cancelled because of the incidents there at that time.

 

There were quite a few of us in Aqua that chose to eat in the main dining room on many evenings, not because the food was any better, but because it wasn't much worse and it allowed us to sit with more people than at Blu. I would try Blu again but not unless the difference in price was reasonable. I know people rave about Blu and I am not a picky eater or overly critical about food but thought Blu was nothing special, at least on that cruise. In fact, I had to send two breakfasts back because the pancakes were like rubber and the egg whites looked like foam with asparagus on top. Sorry about the disgusting details. I am not a museli eater but hear that is very good, however I couldn't say the same for some other dishes.

 

Just my opinion on that particular cruise. I lost 7 pounds so there was a silver lining.:D

[WEGL81]

We were on the Connie on the TA in Nov and had none of those issues. We never had to wait more than maybe a minute. i concur on Miller as we had him when we were on the Connie last April. We never managed to get him for a waiter this time, though. All of the wait staff was very attentive. I think only one time did things take a long time, but we were sitting with another couple and din't mind the extra time because we were talking. We did eat fairly early most nights, however.

[Caribbean Chris]

 

The rules are (were?) supposedly that suite passengers had access to Blu on a space available basis. Said travel agent had an agreement with the maitre 'd for her very own table each evening which the she and her husband would occupy while entertaining invited guests during which time she spent many hours soliciting their business. Of course this was at our expense as well as all those who could not be seated during that time.

 

How do I know this? My wife and I had the unfortunate opportunity to be 'invited' to sit at her table on one of the first nights out. She boasted about her 'reservation' in Blu and kissed the maitre d' as she thanked him when we entered Blu. Over a very extended dinner she proceeded to hard sell us her travel agent services, at one point pretending to cry in a vain attempt to pull us in emotionally and seal the deal.

 

It was dreadful, to say the least. And we overheard her disgusting spiel (together with faux tears) repeated again and again on successive nights when we were unfortunate enough to be within hearing distance of her table.

 

I'll admit we should have reported her and the maitre 'd right then and there. In any case it soured us on Blu, at least on the M-class.

 

.

 

While my response is off-topic, and it's water under the bridge two years later, but -Yes! - you should have reported this travel agent. Soliciting business on board is a basic no-no for agents.

 

I worked as a sales rep for a cruise line years ago and once flew to a port and went on board to find a travel agent from Chevy Chase, MD. At the direction of top management, I made it clear that she would be put off the ship if word of her solicitation (promoting another cruise line, no less!) reached us a second time. She was even traveling free as our guest. No class. The travel agent you had the misfortune to meet sounds even worse.

[bobsfamily]

While my response is off-topic, and it's water under the bridge two years later, but -Yes! - you should have reported this travel agent. Soliciting business on board is a basic no-no for agents.

 

I worked as a sales rep for a cruise line years ago and once flew to a port and went on board to find a travel agent from Chevy Chase, MD. At the direction of top management, I made it clear that she would be put off the ship if word of her solicitation (promoting another cruise line, no less!) reached us a second time. She was even traveling free as our guest. No class. The travel agent you had the misfortune to meet sounds even worse.

Glad to hear it, seems like a good company you worked for (at that time).

[Verona Gal]

DH and I were on the December 13 Constellation sailing in Aqua class. We have sailed in Aqua class 12 times on various ships and had just disembarked from the Equinox the day before our Constellation cruise. We have always enjoyed our experience in Blu, especially those on the Equinox with Adrian as MD. Based on our experience in Blu on the Constellation, if this were my first time in Aqua class, I would never do it again.

 

We had an experience similar to the Op's. We had very long wait times to be seated, although the hostess Tijuana assured us repeatedly that no suite guests were being seated in the restaurant. Although it appeared most of the servers were trying to provide good service, it appeared they were short handed since, unlike Blu on S class ships, they had to go down to deck three for every order. As a result, the time between ordering and being served was very long. The one wine steward was also having a hard time taking care of all the guests. Other problems included being seated at tables with dirty tablecloths, and tables not being bussed promptly, in one case for over an hour. On one morning we were seated next to an unbussed table and after fifteen minutes had to ask someone to take care of it.

 

Fortunately for us, on the last three days of the cruise, the Blu MD was ill, and a replacement was brought in from Ocean Liners. Although not all the problems were solved immediately, the wait times and service improved tremendously.

 

This experience will not keep me from sailing in Aqua class in the future, but I don't think we will be sailing on the Connie anytime soon.