Michael’s Club Virgins Just off the 1-24-15 Reflection Cruise

[vtcruising]

We just returned from a Reflection 7 night cruise to the Caribbean (Jan 24). We were in a Celebrity Suite and enjoyed the Michael’s Club experience for the first time.

 

Background:

This is our 4th Celebrity cruise, with 2 in AQ and 1 in a Sky Suite previously. They turned Michael’s Club into an upper suite/Zenith lounge just prior to our Reflection TA in April last year. My husband was sad not to be able to go into Michael’s during that cruise (except when he was invited in by a friend), so I secretly booked a Celebrity Suite for this cruise (and paid the difference as an anniversary present). Up until the day of the cruise he thought we were going to be in a Sky Suite, so was thrilled when I told him we were in a CS (except for not having the awesome corner aft full sun balcony he loved in the Sky Suite). I wasn’t sure if it would be worth the extra money, but after hearing people rave about Michael’s Club, I thought we would give it a try. Here is a summary of our trip:

 

Pre-Cruise:

I used Priceline and landed the Hyatt Regency Miami. It wasn’t what I had hoped for and the ratings were mixed, but we actually had an excellent experience there. It is a huge convention hotel and the regular rooms reflect that (unimaginative room with small bathroom with vanity outside the bathroom) though the bed was extremely comfortable and the room was very quiet. The best thing about this hotel was the friendly staff. Everyone was so warm and helpful. The hotel restaurant was quite good, with tasty Latin food and waiters who were some of the best we’ve encountered. The hotel is on the Miami River close to the ocean. The highlight of the stay was a lovely 20 minute walk along the Miami River and oceanfront to Bayside Marketplace on a gorgeous 80 degree sunny day (we left 3 degree F weather in VT). We enjoyed a lazy afternoon having drinks and lunch oceanfront and did some people watching.

 

I had been waiting for the Michael’s Club concierge email that others have talked about that usually comes between 3-7 days prior to the cruise (where the MC concierge asks about requests we might have). I had given up by the time we left for Miami, but did receive an email from Maritza the day before the cruise:

 

“Dear….

 

You're almost there. . .

 

My name is Maritza your dedicated Michael's Club Concierge and I look forward to welcoming you to our exclusive lounge Michael's Club where it's all about YOU!

 

 

It would be my true pleasure to assist you with any of the below...

• Reservation for any of our Specialty restaurant (http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard-celebrity/cruise-restaurants)

• Special seating requests for the main dining-room

• Spa appointments (Spa menu available on request)

• Shore Excursions / Private Journeys (Booking forms available on request)

• ... and anything else you might need

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me and I look forward to meeting you onboard the beautiful Celebrity Reflection.”

 

We are pretty easy to please so only asked about whether a certain wine would be available in MC. She replied immediately with a very warm response, saying they would try to get the wine for me.

 

Embarkation:

We took a cab to the ship at 10:30 and were in the Suite Lounge before 11:00, waiting to board with our Sea Passes in hand (with the Michael’s Club “V” sticker in place). The Michael’s Club experience started right away with the wonderfully warm Maritza welcoming us in the suite lounge (she wandered around looking for the Tiffany blue folders). When the ship was ready, she escorted us onboard to MC and went over everything that was offered there and what she, as the MC concierge, could do for us. We were offered beverages and canapés and sat back and relaxed until our friends (a couple we met on our last cruise) were onboard and in the Bistro waiting for us to have lunch (we left our carry-ons behind, which Maritza had delivered to our suite when it was ready).

 

The Ship:

The ship still looks beautiful, is in excellent condition and spotless. It felt like some areas were more crowded at times than the last cruise – maybe due to the difference of a TA vs. a Caribbean cruise. There are many areas to go to get away from the crowds, if need be.

 

The Suite:

We were in 1122, which is on the starboard side and has a large slanted balcony. We weren’t sure that having the separate bedroom would be that advantageous (we liked the big open space of the Sky Suite), but ended up loving the separate space. The bedroom has no room to spare (has a very comfortable bed, bedside tables and large flat screen with separate good-sized walk in closet). Since we sometimes had opposing schedules, it was nice to be able to have one of us sleep in or have a nap and have a separate place for the other person to do things or have room service or afternoon tea/canapés delivered without disturbing the other person.

 

The living area is very comfortable and roomy. There is a huge coffee table, but no dining table. We had dinner in the suite one night and included our friends. The butler brought a table on wheels, which we could have used, but we ended up using the coffee table since it had more space. He put a table cloth on it and It worked pretty well. Maritza sent us a nice bottle of wine and we had a lovely dinner.

 

The bathroom was a bit small, not a step up from the Sky Suite, except for a phone (which was in the way more than anything) – the Sky Suite had more bathroom cupboard space I think. We again loved the rain shower.

 

The balcony is huge – we had a lovely big padded lounge and little side table and had them bring another lounge chair. It had a good sized table and 2 chairs. We could have fit 2 more lounge chairs out there comfortably. The balcony was totally covered – on the way down, we had strong morning sun and it was lovely. We had great sunny weather on the first sea day and in all the ports so we got our sun fix luckily, since on the way back we had little sun on our side of the ship. The balcony is very private – you can only be seen when at the rail (or if you have a peeking neighbor).

 

We had excellent cabin attendants – their closet was right next to this suite so we were a little worried about noise, but this suite is very quiet. We never heard anything with the balcony door closed and luckily had quiet balcony neighbors so heard very little outside as well.

 

Our butler was very efficient and professional, though we were a bit spoiled by our 1st butler who was so personable. He did a fine job though – no complaints!

 

Food:

We avoided the buffet as much as possible, due to it being a bit hectic to obtain food, drink, utensils and a place to sit before everything is cold. This trip was about rest, relaxation and pampering after rough work schedules and other stressors for the last several months so we slept until 9-10 after our late nights. Since other venues were often closed by the time we got up and ready, we hit the buffet a couple of times. Though the food was pretty good, it was not a relaxing venue. I was surprised at how friendly the staff were there and how readily the tables were cleaned (don’t remember that from last time). We had room service a few times, which was always hot and well-executed and Blu was good, as usual.

 

We only had two meals in the MDR. The first night Maritza escorted us there and we were given a nice window table. We had a great time with the couple next to us. The food was okay, but not memorable. The prime rib was not great (have had some pretty decent prime rib there in the past). The mushroom soup was superb, as usual.

 

The second morning of the cruise when I went to Michael’s for some tea, Marissa said “Are you going tonight?” I was totally puzzled until she told me that she had asked my husband if we wanted to dine at the Captain’s Table that night for formal night (he hadn’t realized what an honor this was and forgot to mention it to me :rolleyes:). My first thought was to be intimidated – we are small town people and I tend to be shy around people I don’t know. When I talked about my fears with Maritza, she said that we should just be ourselves and that we would have a lot of fun. She was right – it was a memorable experience and I even held my own with the First Engineer with a fascinating discussion about azipods :) – thank you Cruise Critic members for all the azipod discussions! The one thing Maritza didn’t tell me about was the never ending wine supply. Every time I took 2 sips of wine, someone would fill my glass. In the end, I have no idea how much wine I had, but by the conclusion of the evening I certainly was not shy! We received a nice memento of the night – a folder with the menus with our names printed on them, a seating chart, name cards and a picture of our table from above.

 

We ate at the Lawn Club Grill, Tuscan and Murano with our friends and had wonderful times in all. Favorites: LCG: grilled scallops are so good (ask for scallops only instead of shrimp and scallops on the skewer, otherwise you will only get one scallop), grilled filet mignon and lamb chops. Tuscan: wild mushroom ravioli doesn’t look like much but it is my favorite thing on the ship – I got several people hooked on that dish this time around. We also went there for lunch one day and had it again as the main course. Murano: wow, enjoyed this venue more than ever this time – of course the goat cheese soufflé is a must (had it with a lovely Chablis Premier Cru), the venison loin was thought to be the best thing ever by 3 of the people at our table though I again enjoyed the tableside-prepared lobster (with more Chablis). The cheese cart was amazing as always – we all somehow made room for a few nibbles and it was superb, including the creamy Camembert and the Roquefort, which we had drizzled with honey.

 

The wine experience was quite good. We had the premium package and tried some nice wines that were > $13, paying the difference, though most wines we chose were at no extra cost. We found all sommeliers to be spot on when helping us choose wines this time around. Michael’s did stock the wine that I requested.

 

Ports:

We had been to all ports many times so barely got off the ship. We were told that there were 24,000 cruisers in port in St Thomas so really didn’t want to go far. It had been listed as a tendered port for us, but we were docked and the HAL ship was the one tendered.

 

We ate at the Toro Salao restaurant on their outside terrace when in port in San Juan. It was a short walk from the ship. It was a beautiful night and we shared several yummy tapas with our friends and had wonderful mojitos. We were able to make a reservation through Open Table and requested an outside table.

 

Entertainment:

We seemed to have a hard time getting to the shows (many times we were having too much fun in Michael’s or were enjoying music somewhere), but did make it to the comedian the first night. He was good, but not memorable. One of the big disappointments was that they did not do Sin City on this cruise. We had really looked forward to adult humor in a smaller venue.

 

They had a lot of small venue late night parties: Indulgence (seductive, quirky pop-up performances with indulgent desserts and tantalizing beverages in Ensemble Lounge - $20 each), Harem (Middle Eastern night club in the Sunset Bar), Cellar Nightclub (with the DJ in Cellar Masters), Liquid (Las Vegas style nightclub in Solarium), Wonderland (dance in Grand Foyer with whimsical characters of Wonderland with House Band), Mirage@Martini (with silhouettes of people behind the wall of the Martini Bar). We only went to the Indulgence party (received an invitation from Maritza for complimentary attendance) and found it a bit bizarre, but entertaining, if you let yourself go. People from the theatre were dressed in unusual costumes and would sing and do other interesting performances, while others mixed with the crowd. My favorite memory is of a couple who looked to be in their late 70’s who came to the party and looked like they were totally out of place (were wide-eyed and tentative initially) – when we left I saw the man with 2 cupcakes and a martini talking with one of the scantily clad show girls with a big smile on his face :).

 

My husband was thrilled that Walker Black joined this cruise. Angie and Jim are a couple who are excellent musicians. Their performances were his favorites on the Reflection TA last year. They are also very personable – it was great to catch up with them. We especially loved the wine and cheese on the lawn, with blankets, small tables, blue tea lights, with Walker Black on a beautiful night.

 

I enjoyed the casino again this year. I actually had pretty good luck on the same Uspin slot machine I used last year (at least this machine was in the same spot as last year) and was up more than I was down most nights. I won several minor jackpots ($100-150) and heard someone won the $15,000 jackpot on one of those 3 machines on the night I didn’t play.

 

We did the World Wine Tasting again, which actually had a few really nice wines ($25 for 12 wines). It was the second day of the cruise so you could see if you liked certain wines before ordering them on the ship (all were sold by the bottle so you couldn’t order a glass to try).

 

We were happy to see that the Riedel Wine Tasting was being offered without the glasses for $16.50 each. We had done the class a few years ago and had the glasses already, but wanted to refresh our memories on these glasses and also take our friends, who had not done the class. It was again very well done.

 

Michael’s Club:

With goals for rest, relaxation and pampering on this cruise, Michael’s Club really hit the spot. It felt like a haven for us. We could curl up in a corner and read, join friends for drinks and conversation or sit at the bar where the action seemed to be. We got to know the bartenders Richard and Borko and they got to know what we liked and customized drinks for us to try, after getting to know our tastes. I tried different drinks and settled on a tasty and smooth Patron margarita with Grand Marnier as my drink of choice. It was like being at Cheers – you walk in and they say your name and start making your drink, while telling jokes and doing bar acrobatics. In addition to getting to know the remarkable bar staff, we met some cool people at the bar and enjoyed many interesting hours there. We were able to take drinks out of MC so would sometimes have our custom cocktails made to our liking and head to the Ensemble Lounge to listen to music, head to dinner or go back to the suite for a drink on the balcony.

 

Michael’s never felt crowded to me, though it was not under-utilized, in my opinion. At some times of the day there would be several people in there with a vibrant atmosphere and at others empty when I walked in. I’m sure its utilization varies from cruise to cruise and ship to ship.

 

When we first boarded we were given a list of times for food/drink in MC. They served Forte teas, coffee, espresso, etc. with pastries and bagels in the morning – 8:00-10:30 AM. Canapés were served between 1-3 PM and plates of 4 different canapés were served in the evening between 5:30-9 PM (the mini beef Wellingtons and the stuffed hearts of palm were my favorites). There are coolers in MC, 2 of which are unlocked and contain water (small and large), Perrier and sodas. These were open from 800 AM-1140 PM. The other coolers have beer, which the staff will get out for you.

 

The Michael’s Club Bar Hours were listed as: 8:00-10:30 AM/12:00-3:00 PM/5:00-11:45 PM.

 

Other happenings in MC:

There were some special events in MC, such as a cocktail party on formal night with live music (piano) and a tea party with scones, etc. with a guitar player.

 

Some people took advantage of having a private meeting with the Future Cruise sales person in Michael’s, instead of waiting at the Future Cruise sales desk.

 

The ship’s officers often visited the lounge and introduced themselves and asked us how things were going. We met quite a few of the ship’s officers that way.

 

Maritza is a very hard working person, who took a personal interest in people. She was a presence in MC most of the day and was often there until the wee hours. She was a great resource for any issues or questions. From when she escorted us onboard the first day until we were escorted off the last, we felt well taken care of. She said she had approximately 80 people with access to MC to assist (I imagine that is variable) – as others have said, it is not just CS suites and above and Zenith, but other VIPs onboard may have access. The sign outside the door reads “Michael’s Club – Members Only” – there is no mention of upper suites, Zenith or other qualifiers.

 

My bottom line: I loved the MC experience and have Celebrity Suites booked for some, but not all, future cruises. I think we will be fine on the cruises without MC access as we don’t need all the bells and whistles to have a good time, but will shoot for CS and above when the price is right. The new suite restaurant will be icing on the cake.

 

This was another excellent Celebrity cruise – I’m going through post cruise withdrawal syndrome, made worse by the below zero weather with the snow blowing outside…..

 

A couple pictures of Michael's Club and the evening canapés:

[jules57]

Thanks VTcruising. Enjoyed your review of MC and looking forward to the experience in May. We too are booked into a CS but on the Eclipse (1110).

[sunshine nana]

Thanks for the review. I too am surprising DH with a Celebrity Suite. I think he will really like it. I know he will miss the aft balcony, but I think MC will make up for it. I know he will like being escorted there at embarkation. We will probably not have an Celebrity suite for our longer more port intensive trips, but this cruise in March is only 5 days and we will probably spend more time on the ship than usual.

[vtcruising]

Thanks VTcruising. Enjoyed your review of MC and looking forward to the experience in May. We too are booked into a CS but on the Eclipse (1110).

 

Hope you have a wonderful time!

[vtcruising]

Thanks for the review. I too am surprising DH with a Celebrity Suite. I think he will really like it. I know he will miss the aft balcony, but I think MC will make up for it. I know he will like being escorted there at embarkation. We will probably not have an Celebrity suite for our longer more port intensive trips, but this cruise in March is only 5 days and we will probably spend more time on the ship than usual.

 

I hope he enjoys his surprise. I think MC will make up for the aft balcony - there are plenty of other places to get the aft view and sun.

 

I agree about the port intensive cruises - we took an aft AQ balcony over a CS and MC for our Alaskan cruise. We wanted to be able to get the best view from our balcony and probably will have less time to hang out in MC anyway. I will sigh every time I go by MC, I'm sure. :)

[portofrome]

Thanks for the review.

[msweebee]

QUOTE: When we first boarded we were given a list of times for food/drink in MC. They served Forte teas, coffee, espresso, etc. with pastries and bagels in the morning – 8:00-10:30 AM. Canapés were served between 1-3 PM and plates of 4 different canapés were served in the evening between 5:30-9 PM (the mini beef Wellingtons and the stuffed hearts of palm were my favorites). There are coolers in MC, 2 of which are unlocked and contain water (small and large), Perrier and sodas. These were open from 800 AM-1140 PM. The other coolers have beer, which the staff will get out for you.

 

The Michael’s Club Bar Hours were listed as: 8:00-10:30 AM/12:00-3:00 PM/5:00-11:45 PM.

 

It does seem as though MC is evolving and each one has it's own personality at present. It will be interesting if after April all of MCs fall into the same pattern and what you experience on one ship will be duplicated on your next voyage...

 

The evening canapés certainly look attractive in photo and sound better than anything we have yet to see in MC on several other ships so that is a very pleasant surprise. The limited bar hours are new to me but with so many having beverage packages it should not inconvenience anyone at all. The non serving hours appear to be over meal times which make sense if they are primarily using dedicated bartender/servers now.

 

On our past 14 day cruises MC staffing has varied and from observation it was not clear if concierge was requesting particular staffing or if it was luck of the draw. I do know that one Concierge did request a server not to return after a few days. The server was excellent in MC and in other ship's venues; he/she was just not able to cope with a couple of guests in manner acceptable to Concierge. Neither my husband or I ask a lot of personal questions on how the operation of things work but it is amazing what may be shared when they are frustrated. A perfect meld of personalities between the Concierge, bartender and server(s) will go a long way for a positive experience for MC guests along with the stability of seeing the same staff most times - oh, rather sounds like Cheers as OP mentioned!

 

A couple of our fav events in MC have been Caviar and Champagne tasting, Sushi making demo, and the evening with entertainment. But again events have varied from ship to ship for us so far. And we loved Indulgence and OP did one of the very best descriptions that I have seen on CC. Bobbi

ps We loved Indulgence and think it is a good addition and hope a couple more "experience" type venues pop up in the future on X.

[Diane Rose]

Really enjoyed the review. Thank you.

 

Diane

[vtcruising]

QUOTE: When we first boarded we were given a list of times for food/drink in MC. They served Forte teas, coffee, espresso, etc. with pastries and bagels in the morning – 8:00-10:30 AM. Canapés were served between 1-3 PM and plates of 4 different canapés were served in the evening between 5:30-9 PM (the mini beef Wellingtons and the stuffed hearts of palm were my favorites). There are coolers in MC, 2 of which are unlocked and contain water (small and large), Perrier and sodas. These were open from 800 AM-1140 PM. The other coolers have beer, which the staff will get out for you.

 

The Michael’s Club Bar Hours were listed as: 8:00-10:30 AM/12:00-3:00 PM/5:00-11:45 PM.

 

It does seem as though MC is evolving and each one has it's own personality at present. It will be interesting if after April all of MCs fall into the same pattern and what you experience on one ship will be duplicated on your next voyage...

 

The evening canapés certainly look attractive in photo and sound better than anything we have yet to see in MC on several other ships so that is a very pleasant surprise. The limited bar hours are new to me but with so many having beverage packages it should not inconvenience anyone at all. The non serving hours appear to be over meal times which make sense if they are primarily using dedicated bartender/servers now.

 

On our past 14 day cruises MC staffing has varied and from observation it was not clear if concierge was requesting particular staffing or if it was luck of the draw. I do know that one Concierge did request a server not to return after a few days. The server was excellent in MC and in other ship's venues; he/she was just not able to cope with a couple of guests in manner acceptable to Concierge. Neither my husband or I ask a lot of personal questions on how the operation of things work but it is amazing what may be shared when they are frustrated. A perfect meld of personalities between the Concierge, bartender and server(s) will go a long way for a positive experience for MC guests along with the stability of seeing the same staff most times - oh, rather sounds like Cheers as OP mentioned!

 

A couple of our fav events in MC have been Caviar and Champagne tasting, Sushi making demo, and the evening with entertainment. But again events have varied from ship to ship for us so far. And we loved Indulgence and OP did one of the very best descriptions that I have seen on CC. Bobbi

ps We loved Indulgence and think it is a good addition and hope a couple more "experience" type venues pop up in the future on X.

 

I too wonder if the MC experience will become more consistent over time - reading about all the various experiences on CC, I really didn't know what to expect. I agree that a lot probably has to do with the personalities involved - we lucked out in having an excellent team!

[drarill]

Great review!! thanks for sharing your MC experience with us.:)

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Thanks for the review, especially Michael's Club. We are booked in Celebrity or Royal Suites on our next 3 cruises and looking forward to it.

 

Mary Lou

[MCKC]

Great review! We were on this cruise and although we weren't in MC had a fabulous time as well:)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[junetraveler2014]

Thank you so much for the review of Michael's Club. We will be on the Summit in May, and I feel your pain with the weather. It is 2 degrees and dropping and more snow on Thursday...Can't wait till spring !

[NLH Arizona]

Thanks for your review.

[cynbar]

Thanks for posting. We were on the 1/17 Reflection cruise and also in Michael's Club. Before the cruise, we weren't sure how often we would use it, but we loved it and will have a hard time booking a future Celebrity cruise without this perk. I agree, Maritza and Richard and Borko were all wonderful, efficient and welcoming, friendly and couldn't do enough for us. Our butler, Gordon, was also top notch --- the best butler we have ever had. Celebrity should be very proud of all of these employees, we hope to sail with them again at some point. Glad your experience measured up to ours-----

[Texed]

VT,

 

Thanks for posting. :)

[RocketMan275]

Thanks for taking the time to include all that wonderful information. We've booked a Celebrity Suite on SIL. It will be our first X cruise and we're really looking forward to it.

[vtcruising]

Thanks for taking the time to include all that wonderful information. We've booked a Celebrity Suite on SIL. It will be our first X cruise and we're really looking forward to it.

 

The Silhouette is a wonderful ship. What a great first Celebrity cruise!

[vtcruising]

Thanks for posting. We were on the 1/17 Reflection cruise and also in Michael's Club. Before the cruise, we weren't sure how often we would use it, but we loved it and will have a hard time booking a future Celebrity cruise without this perk. I agree, Maritza and Richard and Borko were all wonderful, efficient and welcoming, friendly and couldn't do enough for us. Our butler, Gordon, was also top notch --- the best butler we have ever had. Celebrity should be very proud of all of these employees, we hope to sail with them again at some point. Glad your experience measured up to ours-----

 

Sounds like you had a great time too. I can't wait until the next one - will be in a CS on Summit - hope the experience will be as wonderful!

[vtcruising]

Thank you so much for the review of Michael's Club. We will be on the Summit in May, and I feel your pain with the weather. It is 2 degrees and dropping and more snow on Thursday...Can't wait till spring !

 

Please let us know about your MC experience on Summit, as we will be on in August!

 

More snow today ....

[vtcruising]

Great review! We were on this cruise and although we weren't in MC had a fabulous time as well:)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

It was a great cruise - our friends who were not in MC had a wonderful experience as well. Great weather, good food, new friends - it's all good!

[soxfan2013]

We're sailing on Reflection in a RS on Saturday. I'll post our impressions/experiences. So far, Maritza has been amazing pre-cruise, organizing all sorts of details and corresponding regularly by email, which have progressed from formal to fun exchanges as our departure date approaches and we get to know each other. I can already tell that she is an outstanding and committed employee and I think this decision to UG to a Michael's Club suite will make a world of difference.

Edited February 4, 2015 by soxfan2013

[cle-guy]

Please let us know about your MC experience on Summit, as we will be on in August!

 

More snow today ....

 

I'm just off Summit in the PH. 7 night southern caribbean out of San Juan, 1 sea day, rest port days.

 

Lisa was our concierge, however she transferred to Eclipse the day we disembarked.

 

On embarkation, she asked me if I'd like to dine with the Captain, I accepted, and first formal night I had an invitation. Our table included me, the guests in other PH,. and a group of women in a RS (cousins) traveling together sharing the suite,(one of which was doing a B2B), and another couple not sure of the status of their invite.

 

Each evening was some special music presentation, first formal night officers, including captain were all about, photographer took photos in the lounge, and Lisa delivered a photograph to my cabin the next day they had taken of me.

 

There was a sushi rolling class - I didn't go. There was a formal tea event one afternoon.

 

Cooolers were left unlocked even when not attend until late night, so I was free to grab and go with a beer as I wanted. One night I even got one after midnight :D (I had no beverage package this cruise due to a last minute booking)

 

One morning I wanted a bloody mary (port day) at 11 am, no bartender, but Lisa called a bar and had one delivered to me as I waited in the lounge.

 

Met a few guests on embarkation, and we seemed to meet nightly and chat. It was nice to meet a new group of folks and see them daily in the lounge for an adult beverage or 2.

 

My pre-cruise email came about 4 days prior to sailing. I requested my cabin booze be swapped for specific brands, requested various drink garnishes be awaiting and they were there. Also asked for them to arrange a sail-away party, and they did, and provided a very nicely enhanced spread of both hot and cold appetizers. I hosted about 17 people. Lisa and the captain's club concierge popped in to introduce themselves and visit for a few minutes. They also arranged a final night farewell party though I asked them to make it far more casual than the fancy appetizers first night.

 

They now have a suite guest disembarkation luggage tag (RED and also for Zeniths) so your bags are waiting in a special area in bag claim, thus allowing you to disembark at any point you want to during the process, staying in the club until the very last call to leave the ship, or leave 1st off the ship as you wish. The concierge also estrous you personally off the ship, going to the head of the line if there is any.

 

If you have any other specific questions, please feel free to ask.

[vtcruising]

I'm just off Summit in the PH. 7 night southern caribbean out of San Juan, 1 sea day, rest port days.

 

Lisa was our concierge, however she transferred to Eclipse the day we disembarked.

 

On embarkation, she asked me if I'd like to dine with the Captain, I accepted, and first formal night I had an invitation. Our table included me, the guests in other PH,. and a group of women in a RS (cousins) traveling together sharing the suite,(one of which was doing a B2B), and another couple not sure of the status of their invite.

 

Each evening was some special music presentation, first formal night officers, including captain were all about, photographer took photos in the lounge, and Lisa delivered a photograph to my cabin the next day they had taken of me.

 

There was a sushi rolling class - I didn't go. There was a formal tea event one afternoon.

 

Cooolers were left unlocked even when not attend until late night, so I was free to grab and go with a beer as I wanted. One night I even got one after midnight :D (I had no beverage package this cruise due to a last minute booking)

 

One morning I wanted a bloody mary (port day) at 11 am, no bartender, but Lisa called a bar and had one delivered to me as I waited in the lounge.

 

Met a few guests on embarkation, and we seemed to meet nightly and chat. It was nice to meet a new group of folks and see them daily in the lounge for an adult beverage or 2.

 

My pre-cruise email came about 4 days prior to sailing. I requested my cabin booze be swapped for specific brands, requested various drink garnishes be awaiting and they were there. Also asked for them to arrange a sail-away party, and they did, and provided a very nicely enhanced spread of both hot and cold appetizers. I hosted about 17 people. Lisa and the captain's club concierge popped in to introduce themselves and visit for a few minutes. They also arranged a final night farewell party though I asked them to make it far more casual than the fancy appetizers first night.

 

They now have a suite guest disembarkation luggage tag (RED and also for Zeniths) so your bags are waiting in a special area in bag claim, thus allowing you to disembark at any point you want to during the process, staying in the club until the very last call to leave the ship, or leave 1st off the ship as you wish. The concierge also estrous you personally off the ship, going to the head of the line if there is any.

 

If you have any other specific questions, please feel free to ask.

 

Thanks, Curt! Sounds like a great experience. The MC concierge seems to be able to make things happen - sounds like we can look forward to being pampered again. :)

 

I am glad they are doing something about the luggage. We had a number 1 to get off and went to Michael's for tea and pastries and needed to leave at 8:00 due to our flight time. The concierge escorted us off, bypassing the line, and then we had to wait 45 minutes for one of our bags to appear on the carousel. It was chaos by that time, since most people were getting off and we had to watch all 3 carousels for our suitcase to appear (told it might have been placed on the wrong one). The red tag seems like a better system (seems silly to by-pass lines, only to have to wait for luggage).

[vtcruising]

We're sailing on Reflection in a RS on Saturday. I'll post our impressions/experiences. So far, Maritza has been amazing pre-cruise, organizing all sorts of details and corresponding regularly by email, which have progressed from formal to fun exchanges as our departure date approaches and we get to know each other. I can already tell that she is an outstanding and committed employee and I think this decision to UG to a Michael's Club suite will make a world of difference.

 

I am not surprised. She is an extremely hard-working person. When asked about when she would have vacation, she said she didn't really think about it since she loved her job so much (though misses her family in Johannesburg). She seems to really enjoy getting to know everyone and making everyone's cruise special.

 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise!