Can I pay to eat at Blu if I did not book Aqua Class?

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

I agree, if you are in a AQ cabin you are paying a lot more for the Prviledge and experience of eating in Blu. It cheapens the experience if non AQ passengers have access. The OP is asking if a friend (not a solo) in a non AQ cabin can join him for dinner in Blu, that would result in at least 2 non AQ passengers in Blu since he already said neither he nor his friend is a solo. 

 

I am leaving HAL because they have a private dinning room called Club Orange which originally was going to be free to all top tier suits passengers. Then they opened it up to anyone willing to pay an extra $25 to $50 pp per day to eat in Club Blu and other CO benefits.. Suite passengers on HAL no longer have the Pinnacle Grill for exclusive breakfast as that has been substituted with Club Orange for breakfast and dinner. BTW on non Pinnacle class HAL ships the CO dinning area is a roped off section of the first floor MDR, hardly an intimate private experience.

 

We have booked the Infinity for 2021 because unlike HAL  X has real benefits for higher level cabin classes.

Where has the OP come back and said if they or their friend are solo? I do not see it mentioned in their first post and do not see that they have come back to specify - though several have asked.

[phoenix_dream]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

Easy fix here make the menus in both Blu and Luminae identical then there would be no reason for Suite passengers to visit Blu. Or offer the Blu menu in Luminae plus a couple of special choices to keep Luminae special. If I was in that line with fellow AQ passengers waiting for a table, I would very vocally express my displeasure to the Blu Manager with Suite people being seated in a already crowded dinning room. 

We actually did discuss the issue with the Maître d as it was such a significant issue on that particular cruise  (the worst situation was on Reflection, which is already very crowded due to additional AQ cabins).  He shrugged his shoulders, didn't say anything, and kept doing it.  I generally don't complain about any staff (they work so hard!) on my surveys, but after receiving that response to trying to resolve my issue in person I did mention it on my survey.  Not sure what (if anything) came of it.

[Donut23]

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Easy fix here make the menus in both Blu and Luminae identical then there would be no reason for Suite passengers to visit Blu. Or offer the Blu menu in Luminae plus a couple of special choices to keep Luminae special. If I was in that line with fellow AQ passengers waiting for a table, I would very vocally express my displeasure to the Blu Manager with Suite people being seated in a already crowded dinning room. 

 

I know on the Summit the galley for the MDR mingles with the Blu galley.

 

Its very easy to request something from the other dining room.  I did it both ways which made things easy because we loved, liked allot, enjoyed tremendously our wait staff in the MDR but there were a few things from Blu we didn’t want to miss.

[Donut23]

3 hours ago, terrydtx said:

I agree, if you are in a AQ cabin you are paying a lot more for the Prviledge and experience of eating in Blu. It cheapens the experience if non AQ passengers have access. The OP is asking if a friend (not a solo) in a non AQ cabin can join him for dinner in Blu, that would result in at least 2 non AQ passengers in Blu since he already said neither he nor his friend is a solo. 

 

I am leaving HAL because they have a private dinning room called Club Orange which originally was going to be free to all top tier suits passengers. Then they opened it up to anyone willing to pay an extra $25 to $50 pp per day to eat in Club Blu and other CO benefits.. Suite passengers on HAL no longer have the Pinnacle Grill for exclusive breakfast as that has been substituted with Club Orange for breakfast and dinner. BTW on non Pinnacle class HAL ships the CO dinning area is a roped off section of the first floor MDR, hardly an intimate private experience.

 

We have booked the Infinity for 2021 because unlike HAL  X has real benefits for higher level cabin classes.

 

How did our friend in the inside cabin, who got approval to be there, cheapen the Blu experience for everyone else?  How could you tell he wasn’t traveling in an AC cabin?

 

Lou is the human version of a bear hug and the last thing he would want to do would be to upset fellow diners.
 

Yes, we needed a 4 top instead of a 2 top but every time we tried Blu is was nearly empty.

[cheeseclan]

We are on the Reflection in an AQ cabin in January.  This is our first cruise on Celebrity as well.  Hoping that there are no issues with lines at dinner in Blu.  We booked this cabin for that benefit and the spa.

We have been loyal Princess cruisers but they started doing things like this so now we are branching out.  Sucks to have this happen so keeping fingers crossed.

 

 

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, Donut23 said:

I know on the Summit the galley for the MDR mingles with the Blu galley.

My understanding is that only the M Class ships have Blu close to the MDR galley and ordering from the MDR menu is not a problem. On the S  and Edge class the two galley's are not closes at all.

[terrydtx]

47 minutes ago, Donut23 said:

 

How did our friend in the inside cabin, who got approval to be there, cheapen the Blu experience for everyone else?  How could you tell he wasn’t traveling in an AC cabin?

 

Lou is the human version of a bear hug and the last thing he would want to do would be to upset fellow diners.
 

Yes, we needed a 4 top instead of a 2 top but every time we tried Blu is was nearly empty.

My comments were not directed at your situation which was screwed up by Celebrity, at least that is what I saw in another post. So your use of Blu was under a special circumstance which I would have no problem with. My comments were directed towards making it any type of standard policy, particularly with Suite passengers having access to Blu, unless AQ passengers could also use Luminae reciprocally.

[terrydtx]

15 minutes ago, cheeseclan said:

We are on the Reflection in an AQ cabin in January.  This is our first cruise on Celebrity as well.  Hoping that there are no issues with lines at dinner in Blu.  We booked this cabin for that benefit and the spa.

We have been loyal Princess cruisers but they started doing things like this so now we are branching out.  Sucks to have this happen so keeping fingers crossed.

 

 

We have been loyal HAL customers for the last 10 years, but the way they have cheapened  their product for upper tier cabins and cut back on so many benefits has us going back to X in 2021. HAL has nothing close to Blu or Luminae.  Our first cruise in 2009 on Celebrity Century had nothing like Blu or AQ class that I can remember. It seems that Celebrity is doing more now for their loyal and higher booking tier customers than most of their competition. 

 

We did Alaska last July with HAL in a Signature Suite (close to Aqua for comparison I size and price) and other than a much bigger cabin and bathroom we got nothing else other than a broken pair of Binoculars and a broken umbrella. No early priority boarding or disembarking either. Oh, we did get double cruise day credit.

 

We are also giving Viking Ocean a try next year to see how a true Premium Line experience will be. 

[keesar]

3 hours ago, cheeseclan said:

We are on the Reflection in an AQ cabin in January.  This is our first cruise on Celebrity as well.  Hoping that there are no issues with lines at dinner in Blu.  We booked this cabin for that benefit and the spa.

We have been loyal Princess cruisers but they started doing things like this so now we are branching out.  Sucks to have this happen so keeping fingers crossed.

 

 

 

We had a bad experience in Blu on Reflection.  Too many cruisers can dine there and the staff was overworked.  Long waits for food and the food came out on these big trays like at a wedding.  We ended up walking out.  After filling out a comment card the next day, we were assigned to a specific waiter and suggested  what time to arrive.  Things dramatically improved but sad to have to say something.  Speak up if necessary.  

 

We never had an issue on any other ship dining  in Blu.  

Edited December 15, 2019 by keesar

[Donut23]

3 hours ago, cheeseclan said:

We are on the Reflection in an AQ cabin in January.  This is our first cruise on Celebrity as well.  Hoping that there are no issues with lines at dinner in Blu.  We booked this cabin for that benefit and the spa.

We have been loyal Princess cruisers but they started doing things like this so now we are branching out.  Sucks to have this happen so keeping fingers crossed.

 

 

 

How exciting!  A new cruise line.  The nice thing is you have selected a GREAT collection of ships.

 

Our Bermuda cruise was the first Celebrity Cruise for my Jim.  He loved it (I knew he would) .... booked our Canada/New England on the same ship - same cabin.

 

Just wanted to say ... Welcome to the Celebrity family!  🤗

[cheeseclan]

26 minutes ago, keesar said:

 

We had a bad experience in Blu on Reflection.  Too many cruisers can dine there and the staff was overworked.  Long waits for food and the food came out on these big trays like at a wedding.  We ended up walking out.  After filling out a comment card the next day, we were assigned to a specific waiter and suggested  what time to arrive.  Things dramatically improved but sad to have to say something.  Speak up if necessary.  

 

We never had an issue on any other ship dining  in Blu.  

I am hoping all good in January.  I will definitely speak up if necessary, no wall flower here 🙂

I was able to book 3 nights at specialty restaurants with our on board credit.  Our TA also got us a certificate for another dinner but i was told i have to wait until on the ship to book it.  Excited to try all these new places.

Cant wait for the cruise......

[Pentlands]

I would never pay to go into Blu. Fortuantely we were on an M class and could eat off the MDR menu, which I invariably did.

[Snit13]

On 12/14/2019 at 12:51 PM, RealBatman said:

 

With all due respect (and I sincerely mean that), as a regular Aqua class passenger, I would prefer the Blu to NOT be available to other passengers! The reason we pay the extra money to sail in Aqua, is because of the Blu restaurant. We love the food, the atmosphere, the service of the very talented and attentive staff and have never sailed any other class on Celebrity... because of the Blu!

 

The restaurant is not large enough to begin to accommodate other diners, and still be able to meet the needs of the current passenger lists. There have been a number of times where we have had to wait in line to get in. (Willingly, I might add).

 

I do appreciate that you stressed that the dining room was ½ empty at the time, and therefore not an issue. As a suite class traveller (having followed your reviews over the years, I believe you usually sail in a suite) you have Luminae restaurant to dine in, an option we Aqua travellers do not. 

 

Hopefully the Blu remains the domain of those who are paying the extra fee to sail in Aqua class. 

No disrespect intended to you, or anyone reading this thread.

Agree 100%.  Have sailed exclusively in Aqua since it became an option when Solstice class ships were introduced.  How much would they charge?  It would need to be same as a specialty restaurant and how would they go about charging...CASH...?  Doubt ships are set up to charge Blu on Sea Pass.  I/we can't eat in Luminae so why should anyone be allowed to pay to eat in Blu if they did not pay the extra $$$ for Aqua Class.

[Straughn]

I wish Celebrity would simply enforce eating in the dining room to which your cabin category is assigned: suites eat in Luminae, Aqua eats in Blu,  and the rest eat in the MDR. If you want to eat elsewhere, there is always the Oceanview, specialty dining and room service. Would make it so much simpler for all. If you are traveling with friends and they are in a cabin category different from yours, well, everyone has to eat in their assigned dining room or go to the options I listed above.

[dkjretired]

9 hours ago, hcat said:

As  I recall, yours was a fact specific situation where Celebrity was the cause of a mismatch in cabins and made fair amends.

 

OP was asking a gen question about the " standard"  rule.  Too many exceptions will lead to even more overload, which has contributed to us taking a break from AQ class and BLU for awhile.

 

 X should stick to the published guidelines!

I agree remember that case and that was Celebrity’s screw up, the passengers should not have been punished.

[TeaBag]

4 minutes ago, Straughn said:

I wish Celebrity would simply enforce eating in the dining room to which your cabin category is assigned: suites eat in Luminae, Aqua eats in Blu,  and the rest eat in the MDR. If you want to eat elsewhere, there is always the Oceanview, specialty dining and room service. Would make it so much simpler for all. If you are traveling with friends and they are in a cabin category different from yours, well, everyone has to eat in their assigned dining room or go to the options I listed above.

Well said.  We should all complain when Suite people are admitted to Blu.  We have noticed a definite downturn in service  because they are shortstaffed in Blu.

[CruisingWalter]

On 12/14/2019 at 10:30 AM, queenbee168 said:

My friend booked Aqua Class, I booked Veranda Class.  Can I pay to eat at Blu with my friend? 

 

No. We tried to have some new friends join us on our last cruise and were told absolutely nobody can eat in Blu that's not in Aqua Class or above.