How will X handle COVID era dinner?

[phoenix_dream]

9 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Celebrity, will I am sure, keep some of the other classes of ships that appeal to a different viewpoint and style of cruising.  I don't beleive they will "edge" every ship in the fleet, and while I love it, there are clearly many who do not.

Covid has changed things, but they absolutely had planned to 'edge" every single ship.  

[LGW59]

12 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

Covid has changed things, but they absolutely had planned to 'edge" every single ship.  

I def should have Googled before I misspoke.  Wow it looks like they are doing so.  No Magic Carpet for the older ships as they are renovated, but they want the experience with renos to be transferrable features, across the brand.  It will not bother me at all, as it genuinely appeals to me, but obviously from reading on here, definitely not to many others.

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I think you are thinking about one of the features introduced on the Edge.  Pick another ship. 😉

No all 3 classes lack a table suitable for having a meal for 2 in the majority of cabins.   The M class up through SS1 don’t have tables in the cabin that could hold dinner for 2 ; C1s and a few others have a decent table on the balcony.  S Class is the same with small cocktail table.  Have had many a attendant & butler try and could only get 1 persons meal on the table.  One  ends up eating on the desk and the other Hunches over the little table or sits on the floor.

[LGW59]

4 minutes ago, jelayne said:

No all 3 classes lack a table suitable for having a meal for 2 in the majority of cabins.   The M class up through SS1 don’t have tables in the cabin that could hold dinner for 2 ; C1s and a few others have a decent table on the balcony.  S Class is the same with small cocktail table.  Have had many a attendant & butler try and could only get 1 persons meal on the table.  One  ends up eating on the desk and the other Hunches over the little table or sits on the floor.

Has not been my experience at all

[Arizona Wildcat]

On 10/10/2020 at 11:50 AM, cl.klink said:

So, let me change the question, then.  How closely spaced are the tables USUALLY placed in Luminae?  In other words, if I were in a suite, and ate in Luminae, how close is the usual spacing to the spacing that would be needed in the likely new system's rules?

 

- Joel 

Speculating as to what the spacing will be is simply a guess.  You can extend dining times, change venues and almost anything or everything.  Is 6' needed? 4'? 3'?  Nobody knows except a 6' spacing or one "group" at a table is pretty much not possible.

If that is bothered me I would not cruise.

[ipeeinthepool]

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

No all 3 classes lack a table suitable for having a meal for 2 in the majority of cabins.   The M class up through SS1 don’t have tables in the cabin that could hold dinner for 2 ; C1s and a few others have a decent table on the balcony.  S Class is the same with small cocktail table.  Have had many a attendant & butler try and could only get 1 persons meal on the table.  One  ends up eating on the desk and the other Hunches over the little table or sits on the floor.

 

You and I must have different experiences on the S-class ships.  I haven't seen the Equinox after the Revolution but all of the balconies I have had have a table large enough to have a meal for 2.  I'm sure that the balcony table could be brought in to use for a meal.  This is unlike the Edge which doesn't have balconies large enough for a decent table (not counting suites), decent reclining chairs or even a footstool on the balcony.

[RICCruisers]

I recall reading that when Equinox had its partial Revolution the furniture on the balconies was replaced with furniture similar to the Edge. That means it is the small table that is not conducive to having a meal. This is for regular balcony cabins. I’m not sure about suites. 

[wrk2cruise]

I believe all Revolutionized ships only have a short cocktail table maybe 12" in diameter on balcony.   Equinox did still have a small coffee table in the room I believe but Summit had no table in balcony rooms.

 

They seem to be really discouraging being in your cabin including room service

Edited October 12, 2020 by wrk2cruise

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, RICCruisers said:

I recall reading that when Equinox had its partial Revolution the furniture on the balconies was replaced with furniture similar to the Edge. That means it is the small table that is not conducive to having a meal. This is for regular balcony cabins. I’m not sure about suites. 

Correct for veranda suites, but balconies have nice 2 seat dining tables in Sky suites and above

[gcorgain]

If I remember correctly, when Luminae first opened suites could also eat for free in specialty restaurants. One way to help deal with the space issue is to offer low cost specialty packages for suites/Aqua. 

[grandgeezer]

28 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Correct for veranda suites, but balconies have nice 2 seat dining tables in Sky suites and above

 

We were in a junior suite, on the Equinox, last August, and there was barely enough room on the table for one person. I let my wife eat out there and I ate in the room.

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, gcorgain said:

If I remember correctly, when Luminae first opened suites could also eat for free in specialty restaurants. One way to help deal with the space issue is to offer low cost specialty packages for suites/Aqua. 

I believe penthouse and royal suites get unlimited specialty dining, other suite types do not.  There are however speacial deals where they do offer it to all suites, I have it for one leg of a B2B in a sky suite on a 15 day TA, but for the second leg, 12 day Greece, Malta, Spain I do not have it included.

[gcorgain]

Yes, I am aware that is/was the current policy. What I was referencing was a fairly short intro period when they were first opening Luminae and it wasn’t on all the ships. This was also before they were including the   Four perks and after they raised the prices significantly. Does anyone else remember this?

 

greg

[LGW59]

54 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Correct for veranda suites, but balconies have nice 2 seat dining tables in Sky suites and above

I should have been more clear.  I am referring to S3 sky suites on Edge, on the magic carpet track.  The rooms are 300 SF and the balcony is 102 SF, ironically this is the entry level sky suite.  Anyway, on Edge very large balcony, dining table for two and loungers.  My understanding is on Apex it will be the same.  At least I hope, because I am on her in May 2021.

[NutsAboutGolf]

6 hours ago, jelayne said:

Dining in our cabin would be fine occasionally but most staterooms don’t have a table in the cabin or on the balcony large enough for 2 to sit together with a full meal on a table.   

This is just my opinion 🙂  We have to remember, every dining room was designed at a time without social distancing in mind which they now need to follow.  I believe due to reduced dining room capacity they'll offer stateroom dinner and possibly, lido deck (when weather permits) dining.

[Germancruiser]

Just back from another wonderful cruise with only seadays-  I know not everyones cup of tea- but i just loved every day of it.

Assuming that X does not sail at full capacity when they reasume voyages I do not see any problem with the dinning concept. Tables in the MDR where put very far apart- same goes for the Speciality Restaurants.

 

Elevators where not once a problem on both of my " blue voyages"  - I went with TUI- Cruises - always sailing not even at half capacity- otherwise it would a real problem- of that I am pretty sure.

 

I, too use the elevator sometimes for covering just one deck- when haveing a drink in one hand or in both - or sometimes- I admit it- I am just plain lazy. If anyone has problem with that- so be it!

 

For more details see my " live from" :

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2761864-live-from-the-baltic-scenic-cruise-on-ms1/

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2020 by Germancruiser

[ipeeinthepool]

12 hours ago, RICCruisers said:

I recall reading that when Equinox had its partial Revolution the furniture on the balconies was replaced with furniture similar to the Edge. That means it is the small table that is not conducive to having a meal. This is for regular balcony cabins. I’m not sure about suites. 

 

It''s my recollection that the Silhouette still had a large table on the balcony after the revolution, although I think it was a little smaller.  If that is correct, all of the S-class except the Equinox have a decent size table.

[4774Papa]

17 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

I'm one of those folks.  I have bad knees and stairs are very painful for me.  Please don't judge all people by your standards.

Happy Cruiser, I wasn't judging those that need to use the elevator.   It is not always possible to judge people that need to always use the elevator, but I have seen many that clearly didn't need to use the elevator.

Also, we have been on a ship when we had the elevators shut down, forgotten why, and everyone had to take the stairs.  I could see some crew helping some people  that were having problems.   What happens when elevators shut down?

[TeeRick]

18 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

On Celebrity, suite passengers are always treated differently, especially since LLP took over.  IMHO as they reduce passenger capacity, they will want to keep their highest paying customers, which is suites and either AQ or CC, depending on the sailing.  That said, doing so does present serious capacity issues in those restaurants as well as in the Retreat/Michaels Club.  I think it is anybody's guess right now whether they convert other restaurants, or parts of restaurants to mimic the service and food in Blu and Luminae, or whether they will indeed need to cut some passenger capacity in those areas as well.  I suspect that for any restaurant, going forward for now, people will need to reserve times.  I certainly hope they do not choose to assign times!  I suspect we will also be required to reserve times for shows, and who knows, maybe even for bar seating.  

So lets just take Edge as an example as E-Class has the highest number of suites.  There are 176 suites on Edge out of 1467 staterooms.  So 12% of the staterooms are suites.   We can come up with similar numbers for Aqua and CC cabins if necessary using the Edge fact sheet.  https://www.celebritycorporatekit.com/content/uploads/2017/07/Edge_Fact_Sheet.pdf

 

Let's make an assumption (maybe a poor one) that Celebrity will sail overall at 50%.  So the other 50% of the people who paid for the cruise will be left behind if the cruise was initially at capacity.  I am thinking that Celebrity will need a pre-announced allocation system and plan for reduced capacity cruises.  One that is fair and equitable to allow safe cruising for all passengers.  Or the 50% left behind will outright revolt.  Maybe a lottery method?  Maybe they will factor in spacing between cabins (every other?).  Or even a well thought out plan for reduced occupancy of dining rooms and restaurants.  I will give them at least some credit that they are thinking about these things and it will all be part of an approved plan to sail.  They would face a sh#@t-storm from passengers and media (including social media) if they just punted and gave away everything to highest paying guests first.  And if I had a suite I personally would be rather unhappy about being crowded in to suite cabins and suite areas at 100% capacity.

 

[Fouremco]

It seems to me that the fairest and most equitable way of managing a reduction would be to allow those who committed earliest to a given cruise to retain their bookings. That could be applied to each broad category, from inside cabins through verandas to suites. No system is perfect, and there will be some very unhappy customers no matter what is done, but this is an approach that treats all passengers equally.  

[TeeRick]

Just now, Fouremco said:

It seems to me that the fairest and most equitable way of managing a reduction would be to allow those who committed earliest to a given cruise to retain their bookings. That could be applied to each broad category, from inside cabins through verandas to suites. No system is perfect, and there will be some very unhappy customers no matter what is done, but this is an approach that treats all passengers equally.  

Yes the most important thing is to treat all passengers equally and to develop a procedure to do that and communicate it early and broadly.  Let's not repeat the Refund fiasco of the early days of cancellations.  Hopefully Celebrity and other cruise lines learned something since March.

[jelayne]

I agree if reduced capacity results in having to cancel booked passengers using booking date would be a reasonable approach. 

 

On some sailings/categories it looks like bumping to reduce capacity won’t be a issue.  Looked at 3  Infinity Cruises  (booked on 2) AQ1 had 1, 3, & 5 cabins booked, Suites are showing sold out.  Maybe if Occupied suites need to be reduced a option could be offer to move down vs being bumped.
 

Also looked a Edge April cruise we are booked on, of the 146 Sky Suites 67 (46%) are available.  I also look at a Apex sailing and close to 100 Sky Suites are available.

 

Hope we picked cruises that will sail and categories that won’t need bumping for reduced capacity.

 

 

[Oceangoer2]

On 10/11/2020 at 10:10 AM, Pinboy said:

1--  This is the emoji I didn't know was to be taken as funny. 

     " They will only have service in every other elevator.  😱 "

      I would have expected a wink to make it funny.

2--  I did have a brain lapse yesterday ----- I had a 3 ft downhill , side hill putt to win a 5 hole carryover .  Never mind what         happened, but the next hole was worth 6 !!!!

3--  I am a hockey fan and did play hockey ---- No, not in the NHL --- University

      ( So, you are the Leaf fan ????? ) 

4-- Great player, classy guy--- would never speak  '' moistly "  on an opponent .

 

ONLY a 3' putt 😄...assume you made it - but the the next hole - a par 3? - cost you the 2-3 strokes you made on the downhiller? 😢  BTW....I'm the 2nd leaf fan!  haha....we are believers!

 

 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

It seems to me that the fairest and most equitable way of managing a reduction would be to allow those who committed earliest to a given cruise to retain their bookings. That could be applied to each broad category, from inside cabins through verandas to suites. No system is perfect, and there will be some very unhappy customers no matter what is done, but this is an approach that treats all passengers equally.  

 

I still say their first step should be to contact all passengers with the new requirements and have them say if they want to sail with them in place (offering refund or FCC regardless of if their sailing is PIF rather than this "You have to be PIF to get the credit if you cancel" absurdity). They may well find that there are enough who jump ship they do not have to do any additional culling.

 

After that, if additional culling is needed, they could send an offer for not cruising to all passengers across the board - like airlines do at the airport when they have oversold a flight.

 

And then if additional culling is needed, I agree that "last booked, first removed" should apply regardless of category until they are at the correct numbers.

[Pinboy]

13 minutes ago, AtSeaSoon said:

ONLY a 3' putt 😄...assume you made it - but the the next hole - a par 3? - cost you the 2-3 strokes you made on the downhiller? 😢  BTW....I'm the 2nd leaf fan!  haha....we are believers!

 

 

With due respect--- I'm not sure you understood my golf comment.

With due respect--- Being a believer in the Leafs is up to you, but, don't bet on them.