Can you have a luxury experience by booking a top suite on Celebrity?

[English Voyager]

3 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

I can't believe that the other luxury lines (Seabourn, Silversea or Regent) have specialty restaurants that can accommodate large numbers so that unlimited guests can dine there every night.

Hapag-Lloyd's Europa 2 has a total passenger capacity of 516.

 

It's speciality restaurants, for which there is no supplement, are:

Tarragon( French): 44 seats. Lunch (on selected days), and Dinner.

Serenissima ( Italian): 56 seats. Lunch and Dinner.

Elements ( Asian): 48 seats. Lunch and Dinner

Sakura (Sushi): 58 seats. Dinner.

[Texas Tillie]

2 hours ago, English Voyager said:

Hapag-Lloyd's Europa 2 has a total passenger capacity of 516.

 

It's speciality restaurants, for which there is no supplement, are:

Tarragon( French): 44 seats. Lunch (on selected days), and Dinner.

Serenissima ( Italian): 56 seats. Lunch and Dinner.

Elements ( Asian): 48 seats. Lunch and Dinner

Sakura (Sushi): 58 seats. Dinner.

 

Crystal's ship's capacity is 848 to 980.

[BarbarianPaul]

5 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

How would they be "special" if there were 150 people dining at any one time? I can't believe that the other luxury lines (Seabourn, Silversea or Regent) have specialty restaurants that can accommodate large numbers so that unlimited guests can dine there every night.

 

Crystal did add 2 other evening dining venues - Silk, a Chinese restaurant and a Brazilian steakhouse. 

 - on their last remodels.

Texas Tillie...

 

I’m not saying that their specialty restaurants should have been enormous, and I do at some point want to try Crystal again. But since my wife and I are always fine with a veranda stateroom, it seems kind of Dickensian to have a luxury cruise line tell me that we can eat once, and only once, at each specialty restaurant. Reminds me of Oliver Twist asking for more gruel! I’m assuming that reservations at a decent hour for a possible second visit are difficult to come by.

 

Anyway, we never had this issue with Regent. And the specialty dining venues on both Celebrity and HA, where we usually just buy a dining package, are pretty much always available, and always pretty good. 

 

 

[BarbarianPaul]

2 hours ago, English Voyager said:

Hapag-Lloyd's Europa 2 has a total passenger capacity of 516.

 

It's speciality restaurants, for which there is no supplement, are:

Tarragon( French): 44 seats. Lunch (on selected days), and Dinner.

Serenissima ( Italian): 56 seats. Lunch and Dinner.

Elements ( Asian): 48 seats. Lunch and Dinner

Sakura (Sushi): 58 seats. Dinner.

The Europa 2, from everything I’ve read, sounds spectacular. Have you ever cruised with them? Even though the crew is supposed to be bilingual, I’m wondering if it’s still a challenge for English speaking passengers.

[Texas Tillie]

3 hours ago, BarbarianPaul said:

Texas Tillie...

 

I’m not saying that their specialty restaurants should have been enormous, and I do at some point want to try Crystal again. But since my wife and I are always fine with a veranda stateroom, it seems kind of Dickensian to have a luxury cruise line tell me that we can eat once, and only once, at each specialty restaurant. Reminds me of Oliver Twist asking for more gruel! I’m assuming that reservations at a decent hour for a possible second visit are difficult to come by.

 

Anyway, we never had this issue with Regent. And the specialty dining venues on both Celebrity and HA, where we usually just buy a dining package, are pretty much always available, and always pretty good. 

 

 

 

They are not telling you that you can eat only once at Prego and Umi Uma (you can eat as often as you want at Silk and the Brazilian steakhouse for no charge), but you do have to pay $30 after your first time at Prego and Umi Uma (assuming you are in a regular cabin and not a penthouse). All of this assumes availability. How busy the specialty restaurants will be varies from cruise to cruise. I can tell you that Waterside (the main dining room) is very good. I think you are creating a problem that doesn't exist as there are plenty places to eat on Crystal and all are very high quality. I've never sailed Celebrity, but I can tell you that the worst meal I have ever had on Crystal was better than the best meal I ever had on Holland America.

 

 

[BarbarianPaul]

16 minutes ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

They are not telling you that you can eat only once at Prego and Umi Uma (you can eat as often as you want at Silk and the Brazilian steakhouse for no charge), but you do have to pay $30 after your first time at Prego and Umi Uma (assuming you are in a regular cabin and not a penthouse). All of this assumes availability. How busy the specialty restaurants will be varies from cruise to cruise. I can tell you that Waterside (the main dining room) is very good. I think you are creating a problem that doesn't exist as there are plenty places to eat on Crystal and all are very high quality. I've never sailed Celebrity, but I can tell you that the worst meal I have ever had on Crystal was better than the best meal I ever had on Holland America.

 

 

Tillie...

Once again, we disagree, though I think you’re probably right about me creating a problem that doesn’t exist. But the fact that we would only have two guaranteed reservations for Crystal specialty dining still rankles.

 

However, the worst meal I have ever had on a cruise ship, on any line, was the coq au vin on the Serenity in 2015. Though by now they’ve completely revamped their dining, so I doubt if the issue still exists, it was so monumentally unappetizing that it was, truly, gag inducing. I sent it back and got something else, and everyone seemed truly apologetic. But don’t think this was some subjective quirk on my part. The dish was awful.

 

And it’s wrong to dismiss HA dining. Though the main dining room wasn’t as good as Crystal, it’s still pretty good, and their new specialty dining venues are great.

[English Voyager]

13 hours ago, BarbarianPaul said:

The Europa 2, from everything I’ve read, sounds spectacular. Have you ever cruised with them? Even though the crew is supposed to be bilingual, I’m wondering if it’s still a challenge for English speaking passengers.

My last cruises were in 2016, and they were on the Europa 2.

 

With one exception, I have found the English language skills of the staff to be excellent, and of course daily programmes, and menus are available in English.

 

What would be lacking, given their formal nature, would be an easy interaction with fellow German passengers.

 

An additional point to bear in mind is that the entry level staterooms are approximately 300 sq ft plus a 75 sq ft balcony.

[Travelcat2]

On 7/11/2019 at 5:05 PM, BarbarianPaul said:

The Europa 2, from everything I’ve read, sounds spectacular. Have you ever cruised with them? Even though the crew is supposed to be bilingual, I’m wondering if it’s still a challenge for English speaking passengers.

 

Hi Paul - so we meet again!  We used to stay at Club Meds around the world (hope that you've heard of them - I'm dating myself).  It was a French company (now owned by the Chinese).  Most people were French speaking and either chose not to speak English or just preferred speaking French.  Yes - the staff was bilingual but it was a pain having to listen to everything in multiple languages.  We enjoyed our many Club Med visits but have no desire to go on a multi-language ship - especially when there are approximately 25 people that are from English speaking countries (that number comes from reading Cruise Critic - no personal knowledge).

 

Also consider the differences in food and culture.  Europa 2 encourages children being onboard (this may or may not be something that you enjoy - we do not).  I love German food but would not like it all of the time.  

 

Very interesting comments about Crystal.  As you know, we're doing a short Crystal cruise in about 6 weeks.  There are many things that will be of interest to us.  We have avoided Crystal for 15 years but now that they have open seating and no smoking (in suites and almost everywhere else), we are willing to give them a try.  

 

However, as you can tell, as lovely as Europa 2 may be - we have zero interest!

[Catlover54]

TravelCat2 wrote about Europa 2 (E2)

 

“

Also consider the differences in food and culture.  Europa 2 encourages children being onboard (this may or may not be something that you enjoy - we do not).  I love German food but would not like it all of the time.  ”

 

TC, maybe you forgot, but English Voyager and I have repeatedly pointed out that the dining experience on the E2 in the main and specialty dining rooms is primarily focussed on international luxury  cuisine, not on German food, like you get on SB or SS, though better, IMHO.

Yes, you will see a Wienerschnitzel regularly offered in the MDR for traditionalists, and many German selections are available in their casual venue amongst many international selections, but Tarragon is French food, Serenissima Italian, Elements Asian, Sakura Japanese, and the MDR offerings,  include filet, lobster  lamb, fish,  beef etc are not at all German.

 

Yes, there are definitely issues of being a minority English speaker on a bilingual ship and in German personalities, and during summer and holidays there will likely be some children of well-to-do Germans on board, ( limited in number per cruise by the line) who have their separate dining area, with nannies, separate family excursions, and assigned pool times. 

 

But let’s not muddle the criticism of the Hapag Lloyd E2 luxury ship with inaccuracies about it having a focus on German food.  It does not ( the Europa, its sister, German only,  does have more both luxury and more basic German food available than the E2).

 

 

 

[Travelcat2]

1 hour ago, Catlover54 said:

TravelCat2 wrote about Europa 2 (E2)

 

“

Also consider the differences in food and culture.  Europa 2 encourages children being onboard (this may or may not be something that you enjoy - we do not).  I love German food but would not like it all of the time.  ”

 

TC, maybe you forgot, but English Voyager and I have repeatedly pointed out that the dining experience on the E2 in the main and specialty dining rooms is primarily focussed on international luxury  cuisine, not on German food, like you get on SB or SS, though better, IMHO.

Yes, you will see a Wienerschnitzel regularly offered in the MDR for traditionalists, and many German selections are available in their casual venue amongst many international selections, but Tarragon is French food, Serenissima Italian, Elements Asian, Sakura Japanese, and the MDR offerings,  include filet, lobster  lamb, fish,  beef etc are not at all German.

 

Yes, there are definitely issues of being a minority English speaker on a bilingual ship and in German personalities, and during summer and holidays there will likely be some children of well-to-do Germans on board, ( limited in number per cruise by the line) who have their separate dining area, with nannies, separate family excursions, and assigned pool times. 

 

But let’s not muddle the criticism of the Hapag Lloyd E2 luxury ship with inaccuracies about it having a focus on German food.  It does not ( the Europa, its sister, German only,  does have more both luxury and more basic German food available than the E2).

 

 

Appreciate your correction.  Since I have no experience with Hapag Lloyd, I tend to believe what I read (and in this case, I have no idea where I read it. 😯. Agree that it is important that correct information be posted on CC.  Guess my memory is not as good as it was.  It has been a while since we (you, English Voyager and I) have discussed the ship and I do recall some of what we posted but not about the food.

 

One small question ....... what did you mean by "German personalities"?  I do understand that sometimes there are cultural issues but have not really cruised with many German's.  The only negative experience I have had was with a German man on a Regent excursion (that clearly had a lot of walking involved) and he was quite adamant that the entire group slow down to his speed.  This was done for a while but ultimately he was asked to take a sit while we galavanted on with the group.

 

I have so much about Europa 2 that I wish that I could tour the ship.  It really sounds lovely.

[BarbarianPaul]

8 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

Hi Paul - so we meet again!  We used to stay at Club Meds around the world (hope that you've heard of them - I'm dating myself).  It was a French company (now owned by the Chinese).  Most people were French speaking and either chose not to speak English or just preferred speaking French.  Yes - the staff was bilingual but it was a pain having to listen to everything in multiple languages.  We enjoyed our many Club Med visits but have no desire to go on a multi-language ship - especially when there are approximately 25 people that are from English speaking countries (that number comes from reading Cruise Critic - no personal knowledge).

 

Also consider the differences in food and culture.  Europa 2 encourages children being onboard (this may or may not be something that you enjoy - we do not).  I love German food but would not like it all of the time.  

 

Very interesting comments about Crystal.  As you know, we're doing a short Crystal cruise in about 6 weeks.  There are many things that will be of interest to us.  We have avoided Crystal for 15 years but now that they have open seating and no smoking (in suites and almost everywhere else), we are willing to give them a try.  

 

However, as you can tell, as lovely as Europa 2 may be - we have zero interest!

 

Jackie-

 

Of course I remember Club Med! I think many of them turned into Sandals. But all good points about Europa 2. We don’t enjoy kids onboard either, and I’m sure the multi-language element would add an element of inconvenience with which we’d ultimately rather not deal.  The menus probably aren’t all German food, but , then, you never know. 

Also, the cost just doesn’t justify trying the ship out for fun. As intrigued as I am, I don’t think my wife and I will be Europa 2 passengers any time soon either. Will be interesting to hear your thoughts re Crystal!

 

p

 

 

[Floridiana]

On ‎7‎/‎21‎/‎2019 at 2:40 AM, BarbarianPaul said:

The menus probably aren’t all German food

 

What the heck, none of it is what Americans call German food. The ship has a very sophisticated international cuisine. 

I have been on a b2b on the Europa 2. It's a luxurious experience, but it is not the right choice for every type of passenger. We didn't book it again, but we are booked on Hapag Lloyd's new expedition ships. Will report next year.