Pricing Comparison & Blu Question

[wrk2cruise]

Yes Celebrity uses Select dining vs Traditional dining for their main dining room options. 

 

Blu for Aqua Class and Luminae for Suite guests are dine when you want within the dining rooms open hours.  I believe Blu is usually open between 5:45 pm and 9:30 pm.  You just walk up to the hostess stand and give them your room number and they will seat you.  During the very busy dining times 7-7:30 there may be a short wait.

 

The web site can be confusing when booking as even for AQ they will still ask you for your desired dining time, early, late, select.   This has no meaning for AQ and Suite bookings and whatever you choose you will automatically be assigned to the proper dining venue.

[jelayne]

On the Summit the speciality restaurants are Tuscan Grill - Italian steakhouse with the same menu everyday; Le Petit Chef which has 2 seatings a night set menu served with a animated show.  Everyone In the venue must be served each course at the same time.  There are 2 versions of the animated show and each has a different menu.  One menu/animation  is offered during the fInstead half of the cruise and the second half of the cruise has a different menu/animated show.  The other speciality is Sushi on 5.  

[Tedferg]

I learned a lot, thank you. We have been MDR / Anytime / Happy to share a table. I do see value in Blu with your explanations.

[NantahalaCruiser]

Celebrity pricing often makes no sense.  Just checked a July 2021 7-N Alaska cruise.

 

Best Value with 2 perks was $245 more per person that Lowest Cost with 1 perk. Both fares were refundable deposits. Since you can have the Classic as the first perk, neither the $150 OBC or $112 Gratuities makes sense as a 2nd perk for $245 and I doubt the wifi/internet would be worth it either.

Edited June 17, 2020 by NantahalaCruiser

[dkjretired]

11 hours ago, Tedferg said:

I learned a lot, thank you. We have been MDR / Anytime / Happy to share a table. I do see value in Blu with your explanations.

 

Just an FYI, if you choose AQ cabin, Blu is your assigned dining room, you do not have a seat in the MDR, they only serve breakfast and dinner every day of the cruise, no lunch.  You can eat in the MDR by making arrangements.   The menu is totally different than MDR and changes daily. The first day you will receive a letter requesting you come at a certain time but that is only for the first day and is absolutely not required, you can go whenever you want. 

Edited June 17, 2020 by dkjretired

[Snit13]

15 hours ago, bikerunner said:

Blu is a separate restaurant from the main dining room. And it’s more or less anytime.  I heard some people have had to wait, times I been in it never happened. The breakfast is a bonus of blu.  Also the summit Persian gardens are a bit different than s class ships but very nice    The food in main dining room is good also.  I always enjoyed it. Blu is a bit better overall since it is small scale and not large.  Both good choices 

 

Also in Blu you get much better service and if you don't like something on menu they will substitute.  I know on occasion I would request a baked or mashed potatoes as I didn't care to enjoy what was offered as the side.  Love Blu and even when crowded it is much more enjoyable than MDR and food is far superior.  Most of my Celebrity cruises were in Aqua and every time after the first night dining in Blu the host/hostess remembered us (I don't know how) and knew our cabin number and our preferred seating area.  We normally went to dinner between 6 and 7.

[terrydtx]

13 hours ago, Tedferg said:

I learned a lot, thank you. We have been MDR / Anytime / Happy to share a table. I do see value in Blu with your explanations.

On M Class ships, which includes the Summit, you can order anything from the MDR menu in Blu in addition to the daily Blu menu. There really is no reason to eat in the MDR unless you like the bigger crowds. For us, this is the beat reason to book AQ Class.  On sea days the MDR is open for lunch and AQ passengers can eat lunch in the MDR. We left HAL after 10 years of loyalty because of the Blu dinning option which HAL has failed to provide anything like this on their ships.

 

When we booked our two Infinity cruises for next year we got the 4 Perks Promotion which included  Premium Drinks Package, internet for 2, pre paid gratuities and $150 OBC. This was the best value at the time because with all 4 perks included we saved over $1300pp. The premium drinks package on our 12 night cruise alone was $828pp. If you want a pretty much all inclusive cruise, the 4 perks, when offered, is a great deal and makes cruising on Celebrity a huge bargain. The premium drinks includes all wine by glass and drinks up to $15 in cost. The $15 wine by the glass gets you into some pretty good wines and most of the martinis in the Martini bar. 

Edited June 17, 2020 by terrydtx

[Tedferg]

11 hours ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

Celebrity pricing often makes no sense.  Just checked a July 2021 7-N Alaska cruise.

 

Best Value with 2 perks was $245 more per person that Lowest Cost with 1 perk. Both fares were refundable deposits. Since you can have the Classic as the first perk, neither the $150 OBC or $112 Gratuities makes sense as a 2nd perk for $245 and I doubt the wifi/internet would be worth it either.

That is why I started this thread. Also just checked 4 perks versus 2 perks option, it is $840 for two, to add $150 OBC and WiFi ?? Beverage package goes from Classic to Premium. Is that $12/Day ? I remember on our one Celebrity cruise we converted to Premium after a couple of days, don't remember why. Possibly wine choice at dinner, though DW is not choosy over wine. Maybe Classic wines were really poor 🙂

 

@terrydtx I had HAL on my comparison list and dropped them for similar reason. Princess Club class just has a separate area in MDR and a couple of extra menu choices. It is $230 extra per day compared to Celebrity $100.

 

 

Edited June 17, 2020 by Tedferg
question

[Tedferg]

Website says "Includes drinks up to $9 and those of the Standard Beverage Package." What does 'those of the Standard Beverage Package.' mean ?

[zitsky]

8 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Website says "Includes drinks up to $9 and those of the Standard Beverage Package." What does 'those of the Standard Beverage Package.' mean ?

 

Are you looking for the menu, the list of included drinks or ???  As you know there is a lot of discussion about the drink packages.  Maybe you can clarify.

[Tedferg]

20 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

Are you looking for the menu, the list of included drinks or ???  As you know there is a lot of discussion about the drink packages.  Maybe you can clarify.

On Celebrity website there is a comparison of Classic and Premium which lists Gin. Rum. Whiskey, Beer etc. does not list specific wines. At the bottom is the Disclaimer that refers to $9 limit and referred to 'the list of included drinks'

[bikerunner]

The classic pretty much covers all drinks, just not the specialty that are at different bars.  But the basics are all in the pkg.  Wines they dont list since they change those every so often on ships.  

34 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

On Celebrity website there is a comparison of Classic and Premium which lists Gin. Rum. Whiskey, Beer etc. does not list specific wines. At the bottom is the Disclaimer that refers to $9 limit and referred to 'the list of included drinks'

But most drinks can be found in the $9 dollar limit, of course not going to get the speciality martinis from the martini bar etc included, but a basic martini, cosmo etc are all in the pkg 

[zitsky]

I upgraded on my last X cruise and I was glad I did.  The wines were better.  Not fantastic but ok.

[terrydtx]

54 minutes ago, bikerunner said:

The classic pretty much covers all drinks, just not the specialty that are at different bars.  But the basics are all in the pkg.  Wines they dont list since they change those every so often on ships.  

But most drinks can be found in the $9 dollar limit, of course not going to get the speciality martinis from the martini bar etc included, but a basic martini, cosmo etc are all in the pkg 

The big difference is the list of wines by the glass. Very few reds other than cheap Chile wine are under $9 a glass and forget any sparkling wine at that price. The Premium package at $15 includes some much better wines from Calif and Washington along with Italian, French and Spanish ones. It will also get you some nice Prosecco and Champaign's by the glass. Plus it gets much better Gins, whiskey and Vodka drinks with premium spirits like Blue Sapphire, Makers Mark and Grey Goose. It is well worth the extra cost of $12pp per day.

[terrydtx]

3 hours ago, Tedferg said:

That is why I started this thread. Also just checked 4 perks versus 2 perks option, it is $840 for two, to add $150 OBC and WiFi ?? Beverage package goes from Classic to Premium. Is that $12/Day ? I remember on our one Celebrity cruise we converted to Premium after a couple of days, don't remember why. Possibly wine choice at dinner, though DW is not choosy over wine. Maybe Classic wines were really poor 🙂

 

@terrydtx I had HAL on my comparison list and dropped them for similar reason. Princess Club class just has a separate area in MDR and a couple of extra menu choices. It is $230 extra per day compared to Celebrity $100.

 

 

On our 12 night cruise the WIFI is worth $299 per person, if that helps.

 

Sounds like Princess Club is just like the Club Orange on HAL with just a separate area in the MDR with 2 extra entre choices. Only HAL's 2 new Pinnacle Class ships have an actual private CO dinning room. Blu has not only 4 or 5 entre choices each night but the menus have different appetizers and desserts than the MDR. I am looking forward to our 2 X cruises next year.

[zitsky]

33 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

The big difference is the list of wines by the glass. Very few reds other than cheap Chile wine are under $9 a glass and forget any sparkling wine at that price. The Premium package at $15 includes some much better wines from Calif and Washington along with Italian, French and Spanish ones. It will also get you some nice Prosecco and Champaign's by the glass. Plus it gets much better Gins, whiskey and Vodka drinks with premium spirits like Blue Sapphire, Makers Mark and Grey Goose. It is well worth the extra cost of $12pp per day.

 

There is some very good wine from Chile out there.

[terrydtx]

1 minute ago, zitsky said:

 

There is some very good wine from Chile out there.

Maybe but not on the Celebrity $9 by the glass list.

[RICCruisers]

2 hours ago, Tedferg said:

Website says "Includes drinks up to $9 and those of the Standard Beverage Package." What does 'those of the Standard Beverage Package.' mean ?

There is or was something called the "Standard Package"  I'm not sure they still offer it.  It was/is one step below the the "Classic Package".  No need to worry about it if you are planning on either Classic or Premium.

[Tedferg]

56 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

On our 12 night cruise the WIFI is worth $299 per person, if that helps.

On Princess we get 150 free Wi Fi minutes and rarely use more than 50, so Wi Fi is not important to us - BTW our Smart Phones spend most of their life on the kitchen counter 🙂

 

I can see that Wi Fi is important to some.

[downsmead]

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Maybe but not on the Celebrity $9 by the glass list.

Can get a Prosecco on the Classic package (by the glass)