Suite dining in Blu?

[Hypo]

I know suites can dine in Blu, on a space available basis.  What , if any, is the current cost for guests in a CS suite?

 

[Jim_Iain]

There is no cost for a Suite Guest to dine in Blu.     I usually check with the Blu Restaurant Manger about availability and best time so as to not interfere with Aqua guests.

[chemmo]

No cost. 

 

Totally agree with Jim-Iain, just liaise with the Luminae and/or  Blu manager to ensure you are not spoiling the experience of Aqua guests.

[mrsgoggins]

Just read this on the Celebrity website:

 

Price Range: Blu is complimentary for all AquaClass guests, please be advised that drinks are not included in the cost of your cruise. Subject to availability Suite Class guests may reserve a table in Blu with a cover charge of $5 per person.

 

Cover charge? 

 

[chemmo]

5 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

Just read this on the Celebrity website:

 

Price Range: Blu is complimentary for all AquaClass guests, please be advised that drinks are not included in the cost of your cruise. Subject to availability Suite Class guests may reserve a table in Blu with a cover charge of $5 per person.

 

Cover charge? 

 

 

Could this be a very old reference? I seem to remember this when we first cruised X many years ago....

[mrsgoggins]

Just now, chemmo said:

 

Could this be a very old reference? I seem to remember this when we first cruised X many years ago....

 

It may well be, but I came across it by chance just a couple of hours ago on the current (UK) Celebrity website.

[dkjretired]

44 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

It may well be, but I came across it by chance just a couple of hours ago on the current (UK) Celebrity website.

 

Mitsubishi been free for several years, UK web site has been several years behind on the past. It took them at least five years to change the old dress codes to new ones.

[Gonzo70]

Yeah, when Blu was brand new there was a $5 per/person charge for suite guests dining in Blu that served as a gratuity. This was well before Luminae and only lasted for a brief period of time; has been no cover charge since. 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Gonzo70

[dkjretired]

1 hour ago, dkjretired said:

 

Mitsubishi been free for several years, UK web site has been several years behind on the past. It took them at least five years to change the old dress codes to new ones.

Of course should be Blu, not Mitsubishi, spell check

[phoenix_dream]

Just got off an otherwise wonderful cruise on Reflection.  The Blu experience left ALOT to be desired, partly because of suite guests.  This ship already has many more Aqua Class cabins than the other S class ships (at least pre-Revolutionizing).  As a result there are more tables crammed into the exact same size space, already creating an atmosphere more crowded, less comfortable and more noisy.  On our cruise there were multiple parties of suite guests who ate in Blu most (if not every ) day.  In addition to the already less relaxing atmosphere, this helped create lines 8 to 10 couples deep at the door during prime times of 7-8:30.  I am NOT exaggerating.  Besides this, there were some (I am not sure how many, but I know for an absolute fact of at least 4) who insisted on ordering from the MDR menu most nights as they liked Blu better than Luminae, but did not like the menu.  Normally this is not allowed on S class, but no one dared say no to a suite guest apparently.  Why do I care?  It caused our waiter to have to travel down to the 3rd floor kitchen, wait in a long line, and then bring the food all the way back up.  At times this meant he was gone for over 15 minutes at a time, causing him to be unable to service his other guests. 

 

Besides delaying us, it caused ALOT of stress for the crew (who were EXCELLENT!) as they tried to accommodate all this.  And as respects fairness to the staff, consider that as we all know the surveys are VERY important - and yet none of these suite guests would be giving feedback on the surveys for the great accommodations they got from the BLU staff, unless they chose to identify certain staff members by writing in comments, which our waiters told us rarely happens.

 

I am concerned that this experience will replicate itself when more AQ cabins are added as ships are revolutionized.  Celebrity seriously needs to re-think this policy going forward.  It is not fair to AQ passengers, who paid for the Blu experience, to have it compromised to accommodate other guests who have a designated restaurant of their own.  If they truly followed the 'as space available' guidelines this would be less of an issue, but staff members are too afraid of negative feedback to say no to suite guests.  

 

Save for the group insisting on MDR menu items daily, this is not a criticism of suite guests themselves - it is Celebrity's responsibility to manage this appropriately and fairly.

 

End of rant.  (and to anyone who doubts my comments regarding suite guests being there or asking for special accommodations, , I got my information directly from staff members as well as suite guests themselves)

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

23 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

Just got off an otherwise wonderful cruise on Reflection.  The Blu experience left ALOT to be desired, partly because of suite guests.  This ship already has many more Aqua Class cabins than the other S class ships (at least pre-Revolutionizing).  As a result there are more tables crammed into the exact same size space, already creating an atmosphere more crowded, less comfortable and more noisy.  On our cruise there were multiple parties of suite guests who ate in Blu most (if not every ) day.  In addition to the already less relaxing atmosphere, this helped create lines 8 to 10 couples deep at the door during prime times of 7-8:30.  I am NOT exaggerating.  Besides this, there were some (I am not sure how many, but I know for an absolute fact of at least 4) who insisted on ordering from the MDR menu most nights as they liked Blu better than Luminae, but did not like the menu.  Normally this is not allowed on S class, but no one dared say no to a suite guest apparently.  Why do I care?  It caused our waiter to have to travel down to the 3rd floor kitchen, wait in a long line, and then bring the food all the way back up.  At times this meant he was gone for over 15 minutes at a time, causing him to be unable to service his other guests. 

 

Besides delaying us, it caused ALOT of stress for the crew (who were EXCELLENT!) as they tried to accommodate all this.  And as respects fairness to the staff, consider that as we all know the surveys are VERY important - and yet none of these suite guests would be giving feedback on the surveys for the great accommodations they got from the BLU staff, unless they chose to identify certain staff members by writing in comments, which our waiters told us rarely happens.

 

I am concerned that this experience will replicate itself when more AQ cabins are added as ships are revolutionized.  Celebrity seriously needs to re-think this policy going forward.  It is not fair to AQ passengers, who paid for the Blu experience, to have it compromised to accommodate other guests who have a designated restaurant of their own.  If they truly followed the 'as space available' guidelines this would be less of an issue, but staff members are too afraid of negative feedback to say no to suite guests.  

 

Save for the group insisting on MDR menu items daily, this is not a criticism of suite guests themselves - it is Celebrity's responsibility to manage this appropriately and fairly.

 

End of rant.  (and to anyone who doubts my comments regarding suite guests being there or asking for special accommodations, , I got my information directly from staff members as well as suite guests themselves)

 

I'd definitely let Celebrity know of this experience. Especially if it is impacting the Aqua Class cruisers' experience. Aqua Class can't go to the suite dining room if Blu gets overcrowded.

 

I'll have my first Celebrity experience in February on the Equinox in Aqua Class - and if I see that suite guests are taking over, like that and causing Aqua guests to have to wait longer than if it were just Aqua guests in Blu,  I'll definitely complain about it.

[jagoffee]

Perhaps the Management/staff in Blu were just presenting a plausible explanation for “leaving a lot to be desired” in their areas of responsibility.  I hope you rating your Blu experience poorly as you indicated that it was.  What would you say to a guest if you were not “getting the job”.  I do hope you did not let them get away with it.

 

The Reflection currently is the Solstice Class ship with the most suites, so perhaps it was overly crowded in Luminae forcing Suite guests out?  This would be surprising and it has not been my experience or observation in Luminae even on the Reflection.

 

Other than wanting to dine with friends in Blu, I can think of no logical reason that a Suite guess would want to dine in Blu. (From the MDR menu) Can you?  Except perhaps for breakfast, but even that is questionable from my experience.

 

Assuming  there is some truth to what the staff say, I would agree that if AQ passengers are not allowed to order from the regular MDR menu, then that rule should apply to everyone.  The exception is the everyday MDR items that Celebrity provides to everyone.  

 

Although there were may be some exceptions,  your basis assumption that for some reason entitled suite guests are running to Blu, because the atmosphere is so much better than Luminae’s atmosphere might not be true.

 

By the way, I could not care less if I was able to ever dine in Blu again.

 

End of my rant.

 

 

 

 

[jagoffee]

10 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

I'd definitely let Celebrity know of this experience. Especially if it is impacting the Aqua Class cruisers' experience. Aqua Class can't go to the suite dining room if Blu gets overcrowded.

 

I'll have my first Celebrity experience in February on the Equinox in Aqua Class - and if I see that suite guests are taking over, like that and causing Aqua guests to have to wait longer than if it were just Aqua guests in Blu,  I'll definitely complain about it.

I did not see your post until after I posted.  I would bet you will not have a problem.  If your  Blu experience is poor, you should not accept the excuse that it is because of Suite guests overwhelming Blu.  I suggest you elevate issue above the Blu staff level.  

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We sail in suites with the ability to dine in Blu but wouldn't do it if impacted aqua guests who paid more for that perk.

[K12Guy]

8 minutes ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

We sail in suites with the ability to dine in Blu but wouldn't do it if impacted aqua guests who paid more for that perk.

Same here. I'm not sure what the attraction might be for dining in Blu, honestly. It's been our experience that Luminae is so consistently good we don't feel the need to try Blu. We have even cut back on specialty restaurants because our Luminae experience is so good. We normally eat very soon after the doors open so I wouldn't want to hold a table in Blu for those in Aqua to paid for that level of dining as a perk.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We were on Reflection in November and Luminae was not crowded, the food and service were great and we felt no need to dine in either Blu or the MDR.

[abbydancer2003]

We were in a suite on the Reflection in 2017.  There were a couple of nights that we thought the Blu menu looked better than Luminae, but they wouldn't let us in because there was no room, as they were (properly) giving full priority to Aqua guests.  They did say we could come at 5pm if we wanted to eat there, but no later than 5:30.  

 

And Luminae was great, and not over crowded. There was one night where we waited for a table, but that was because the ones open weren't in locations we were happy with.  It was our choice.

[mrsgoggins]

This is interesting re Reflection, because it was the Blu experience on that ship last year that made me think ‘we won’t bother with Aqua again’ after good experiences on other ships.  As a PP mentioned, tables very close together, not great service and often a wait to be seated, and not at peak times.  I have no idea if it was because more people from Suites were using it, but it put us off.

 

We got a good deal on Aqua for our upcoming Alaska cruise and so we are giving Blu another chance. 

 

 

[chemmo]

The only reason why a suite guest may want to dine regularly in Blu I can think of is if they are cruising with friends who are booked in Aqua....If you don’t like the Luminae menu either you can either choose something from the MDR menu or arrange the day before for an off menu item.

 

We have over the years met one or two ‘unreasonably demanding’ guests in Michael’s. I cringed overhearing one guest at 7.30pm berate the concierge ‘You must be able to get me into Murano’s tonight I am in a Royal Suite!’...I honestly think the couple would have thought it ‘fair’ to throw out another couple (perhaps from an inside cabin!) to enable them to dine in a fully booked restaurant. 

 

Whilst staff should try their hardest to meet the requests of all guests on board within their training must be the polite decline....The role of the M’D is to ensure the ‘flow and ambience’ of the restaurant. The Blu M’D, if he couldn’t manage the situation himself, should have liaised with the suite manager if his restaurant service was being compromised by unreasonable suite guests.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[phoenix_dream]

I know for a fact that there were some suite passengers who preferred dining in Blu because they thought the atmosphere in Luminae was too "snobbish".  They are the same ones who insisted on special menu arrangements - wonder who's the snob there???  They also insisted on having the same waiter regardless of where they sat even though we were denied that when we asked. 

 

I do not know why the others went to Blu.  I do know that when we dined in Luminae on another cruise  (which I admit is a rare occasion due to the pricing these days), we often ordered off the MDR menu because we did not like the Luminae menu most nights.  But in that case the MDR kitchen was right there so we were offered that option without even asking about it at first.

 

After we experienced this a couple of times we talked to the maître d' and expressed our displeasure, respectfully.  It fell on deaf ears.  He just smiled and shrugged his shoulders.  We decided not to go over his head on this trip because we felt it would create an even more uncomfortable/awkward atmosphere for us going forward.  What we did do was adjust our normal dining time from 8:00 to 8:45 when the crowds cleared.  We also decided not to downgrade the Blu rating overall as it would poorly reflect on the rest of the staff who were working their behinds off trying to keep up with the crowds.  We did add comments in that section.

 

I DO, however, intend to send a note to the home office about this situation.

 

As to newcomers to Blu or Aqua Class, trust me when I tell you we have never experienced this before on any Celebrity cruise and we sail them, in Aqua, a lot  (this was our 5th this year, and our 50th Celebrity cruise).  So unless the revolutionizing changes that dynamic, you have nothing to fear in general about Blu - we normally love it. 

Edited March 27, 2019 by phoenix_dream

[TeeRick]

Phoenix, How did you know they were all suite guests?  Other Aqua guests also contribute to overcrowding and waiting lines if everybody shows up at peak times.  Regardless, the Blu Maitre D' is supposed to handle the situation and set a priority for Aqua guests over Suite guests at busy times.  Suite guests dining in Blu should get their butler to make a reservation, not just show up and add to the wait list.  In my experience sailing suites, Luminae is so good that I have never had dinner in Blu or desired to do so.

[phoenix_dream]

23 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Phoenix, How did you know they were all suite guests?  Other Aqua guests also contribute to overcrowding and waiting lines if everybody shows up at peak times.  Regardless, the Blu Maitre D' is supposed to handle the situation and set a priority for Aqua guests over Suite guests at busy times.  Suite guests dining in Blu should get their butler to make a reservation, not just show up and add to the wait list.  In my experience sailing suites, Luminae is so good that I have never had dinner in Blu or desired to do so.

They weren't "all" suite guests.  I never said that.  I know there were a number of suite guests every night.  How do I know?  More than one waiter told me there were a lot of suite guests, and in a couple cases identified specific tables whose occupants I saw in Blu most nights.  (You don't usually hear comments like this from waiters, but they were very stressed and frustrated as well as they were having trouble providing good service and feared it would reflect badly in their reviews.)   In some cases I saw their suite cards when they ordered drinks.  In some cases I overheard them talking about Michaels Club so while it is possible they were Zenith the odds are they were suite guests ( I also recognized people who were leaving Michaels Club and then walking down into Blu).  Do I know exactly how many?  No.  But I know there were quite a few.  And one point of mine is that there are already extra AQ cabins so Blu is already more crowded than any other Celebrity ship, even without suite guests.

 

Yes, I agree, that is what the Maitre D' is supposed to do.  He didn't.  We even talked to him about it and asked why he was letting in so many suite guests when Blu was so overcrowded.  He just shrugged and smiled and said nothing.  I also know that others complained as I heard them talking to the hostess and Maitre D'.  All to no avail.