Is Luminae over-rated or under-rated?

[HMR74]

34 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

My Luminae experience on EDGE was similar.  It was my least favorite Luminae due to the open design and noise.  It needed some partitions to keep the noise down.  Not sure if that has happened on APEX and BEYOND. Not the relaxing refined experience that I was used to- but still overall very good.  My favorite Luminae experience was on Reflection.

I mentioend yesterday that Beyond is dfferent, first it wraps around the front of ship so you have sound deadening there, and while the number of suites has increased, it appears  from the deck plan drawing that tables are a bit more separate, not earth shattering but more separated, however I think there are fewer true  "deuces" near windows and a lot of the 2 tops are where one side is benches (which is where my wife likes to be)

 

We dine later on vacations consequently by 8:30 it is noticably less crowded-and noisy-and I prefer to avoid tumult. if we make the early show, fine, if not, thats fine too. Used to like ensemble lounge before dinner  to have a relaxed drink and easy music.

 

just did a calculation, comparing aqua to sky suite-and its on a three b2b2b 2023 Beyond cruises, and the price spread is 135pp per day over a 34 day stretch. HIghest spread was on an 8 day middle cruise where the spread was 250 a day pp. Subjectively I thought that was fine.

[Pinboy]

12 hours ago, Oville said:

What does this have to do with Luminae, the topic of this thread.

How many more friggin pages ya wanna read about Luminae ?

Some like it, some don't. 

It all depends on their experience at the time.

I'd rather read about someone's favorite baked beans in Texas, someone's dislike of yellow mustard in Montreal , or that someone's Butler didn't have their Celebrity embossed PJ's ready in their suite when they boarded. ( That could even be enough to spoil a cruise ).

 

 

[HMR74]

6 minutes ago, Pinboy said:

How many more friggin pages ya wanna read about Luminae ?

Some like it, some don't. 

It all depends on their experience at the time.

I'd rather read about someone's favorite baked beans in Texas, someone's dislike of yellow mustard in Montreal , or that someone's Butler didn't have their Celebrity embossed PJ's ready in their suite when they boarded. ( That could even be enough to spoil a cruise ).

 

 

Hey, it gives retirees, like myself,  something else to do.

 

Better mind wise than following international and national news.

 

and ya have the potential to learn a few things you did not know-like Chocolate Sphere, which I have never seen but it sounds as though I'd like it. 🙂

 

 

[TeeRick]

I did learn about the Buffet Extravaganza - oh sorry, not Luminae.

[HMR74]

2 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

I did learn about the Buffet Extravaganza - oh sorry, not Luminae.

Imagine now a lunch  buffett in Luminae , all high end stuff.

 

I belong to a few private talk boards for financial mareket stuff-we shift all over the place including sports and politics, however, if you are thin skinned you are best off if you do not participate. It is brutal if you say the wrong thing. And what goes around comes around. If you dish it out, you had better be able to take it.

[Moby Jones]

2 hours ago, HMR74 said:

 

 

and ya have the potential to learn a few things you did not know-like Chocolate Sphere, which I have never seen but it sounds as though I'd like it. 🙂

 

 

Order a chocolate sphere on the second Chic night. Just bear in mind they're all for show rather than taste, so order what you want to eat and the sphere for the shear hell of it. :)

[HMR74]

5 minutes ago, Moby Jones said:

Order a chocolate sphere on the second Chic night. Just bear in mind they're all for show rather than taste, so order what you want to eat and the sphere for the shear hell of it. 🙂

We take our kids and grandkids to a local Mexican place and their specialty desert is a chocolate Pinata. Inside is fruit and a chocolate sauce, and its that chocolate encasing.  the sphere and pinata must be similar.

Fav desert on board is chocolate Creame Brulee. its been on buffet every 7th day. I admit to visiting buffett at around 3-4 PM every day for mid afternoon snack and drink. Or the eclaires  in Cafe Baccio.

 

I doubt I could handle more than a few cruises a year.

[sippican]

 

 

Decided to remove my sarcastic reply. Wiser to not get down to that level.

Don't understand why some can't just scroll on by!

 

Edited March 16, 2022 by sippican

[jelayne]

20 hours ago, kwokpot said:

The current team on the Reflection, from to front desk to servers and kitchen, worked together like a well oiled machine. That was not the case on the Apex in December. The Servers all were running around like a chicken with their heads cut off. There was no teams working in harmony, rather, they worked against each other. 

Slightly different than our experience last month on the Reflection  The hostess was excellent,  the sommelier, Red , was very good but running to keep up.

Service was slow & seemed disorganized.  Seated in the same area most morning & evenings  but different servers,  2 weeks and they keep offering DH coffee and water, neither of which he drinks.

[kwokpot]

OK to lighten the mood on this thread here's a pic (1 of only 2 taken onboard) from our recent Reflection cruise. Many of the onboard photo setups are now in front of a green screen which has several backgrounds to choose from. 

FYI: For those that are part of the Blue Chip Club Casino program a relatively new benefit for those at Amethyst Tier and above is a free onboard Digital photo package. Yes, free unlimited photo and we only took two pics. 

Edited March 16, 2022 by kwokpot

[kwokpot]

1 minute ago, jelayne said:

Slightly different than our experience last month on the Reflection  The hostess was excellent,  the sommelier, Red , was very good but running to keep up.

Service was slow & seemed disorganized.  Seated in the same area most morning & evenings  but different servers,  2 weeks and they keep offering DH coffee and water, neither of which he drinks.

Were you ever helped by Alfred(Tall, Slim guy from India)? Did you enjoy his service? We thought he was among the top cruise ship employees we have ever encountered. 

[mfs2k]

5 hours ago, Pinboy said:

How many more friggin pages ya wanna read about Luminae ?

 

If this thread got cancelled, I'm pretty sure someone would start a new Luminae thread 10 minutes later. So what's the difference?  Keep it all in the same place.

I've been reading CC for 22 years.  There's not a hell of a lot of new content that hasn't been discussed before.

[mfs2k]

16 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

FYI: For those that are part of the Blue Chip Club Casino program a relatively new benefit for those at Amethyst Tier and above is a free onboard Digital photo package.

 

I'm the lowest tier in the Blue Chip Club but I still saved $5,000 on my Beyond suite because of my MGM Rewards status.  Is the photo package worth that much? 

[mfs2k]

34 minutes ago, sippican said:

 

 

Decided to remove my sarcastic reply. Wiser to not get down to that level.

Don't understand why some can't just scroll on by!

 

 

I've been tempted to hit the "block user" function on cruise critic when it gets bad. 

[kwokpot]

2 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

 

I'm the lowest tier in the Blue Chip Club but I still saved $5,000 on my Beyond suite because of my MGM Rewards status.  Is the photo package worth that much? 

Well looking at the Cruise Planner for my 9 night Beyond cruise the digital photo package is $100 precruise or $125 onboard. I think for a 7 day it was around $89.

[HMR74]

5 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

 

If this thread got cancelled, I'm pretty sure someone would start a new Luminae thread 10 minutes later. So what's the difference?  Keep it all in the same place.

I've been reading CC for 22 years.  There's not a hell of a lot of new content that hasn't been discussed before.

Answer me this : I am still trying to find a way to use an extender router for wifi so I can run 2-3 devices off one connection. eg, I want to use PC and keep phone on wifi. I could do that 9 years ago on a Yangtze river cruise. There was once a thread  for optimizing wifi.

[mfs2k]

2 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

Well looking at the Cruise Planner for my 9 night Beyond cruise the digital photo package is $100 precruise or $125 onboard. I think for a 7 day it was around $89.

 

Great!  Btw, have you tried Luminae?  What did you think? 

 

PS, After reading 14 pages of Luminae talk, I decided to book another night in the Steakhouse on Beyond using OBC.  Now I have 4 of 9 nights in Specialty restaurants.  I think that's enough. 

[mfs2k]

Just now, HMR74 said:

Answer me this : I am still trying to find a way to use an extender router for wifi so I can run 2-3 devices off one connection. eg, I want to use PC and keep phone on wifi. I could do that 9 years ago on a Yangtze river cruise. There was once a thread  for optimizing wifi.

Good luck finding the answer.  I'm trying to figure out how to connect my Amazon Echo so I have music next to the bed. 

[HMR74]

9 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

Good luck finding the answer.  I'm trying to figure out how to connect my Amazon Echo so I have music next to the bed. 

I am going to buy one or two of the ones on amazon before a family trip where we will need streaming for 8 of us. and their price at Royal, on sale is now 18 a day-or 1,000 for internet for a week. save 4 bucks a day if you combine with premium drink package.

 

There are travel routers that will work with wifi.

 

I have also thought about bringing a firestick or roku stick with but the internet is not strong enough for that.

I use a small bose bluetooth speaker and iphone for music on the phone or perhaps streaming music

[Pinboy]

14 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

 

If this thread got cancelled, I'm pretty sure someone would start a new Luminae thread 10 minutes later. So what's the difference?  Keep it all in the same place.

I've been reading CC for 22 years.  There's not a hell of a lot of new content that hasn't been discussed before.

Agree —

LOL—Would you rather read another post about” Who’s on board for our cruise in 2026 “?   or  “ My Waiter forgot etc etc — What would you do “?  

22 years ?? You must be a Lifetime Achievement Award Winner with CC !!

 

 

[DaKahuna]

55 minutes ago, HMR74 said:

Answer me this : I am still trying to find a way to use an extender router for wifi so I can run 2-3 devices off one connection. eg, I want to use PC and keep phone on wifi. I could do that 9 years ago on a Yangtze river cruise. There was once a thread  for optimizing wifi.

Good luck.  Let us know how you make out.  I have one here at home I plan to try and do a mock-setup in preparation for our upcoming cruise. 

 

 

[HMR74]

4 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

Good luck.  Let us know how you make out.  I have one here at home I plan to try and do a mock-setup in preparation for our upcoming cruise. 

 

 

I have 2 extenders, one is a netgear extender which when I take to a rental house  works well, but its kind of large. The other is a small cheap one and that did not work at rental house.

 

If something works well  I will start a thread and let the crusie companies come after me.

[DaKahuna]

48 minutes ago, HMR74 said:

I have 2 extenders, one is a netgear extender which when I take to a rental house  works well, but its kind of large. The other is a small cheap one and that did not work at rental house.

 

If something works well  I will start a thread and let the crusie companies come after me.

 

 I have three or four of them around here.  A couple are older models that only support 2.4Ghz and are only good for about 54Mbs data rates.  These require a wired or cellular connection so they are not of any use on a cruise ship.   My newer ones support 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz and are good up to about 800Mbs.  

[Aloha 1]

On 3/15/2022 at 2:28 PM, terrydtx said:

I think Oceania must be more expensive than Azamara. Our canceled  Oceania Marina cruise was in a PH1 or Penthouse Verandah, one step below their suite level and the cost was $560pp per night and we had the no air O Life option with free beer and wine by the glass with lunch and dinners. It did not include tips or have a butler and no OBC. We are booked in the a Sky Suite on the Reflection Premium drinks, WIFI, all tips and a butler plus $800 OBC for $410pp per night. That is a big difference. To be fair we booked the Reflection in January and got a great deal somehow through out TA. Today the Sky Suites are sold out on the cruise but you can book a guarantee for $649pp per night.

If you had a PH 1 you were in a Suite with a Butler. And in a room larger than an S1. Not casting shade on your decision, just clarifying what a Pent House is on Oceania.

[terrydtx]

2 hours ago, Aloha 1 said:

If you had a PH 1 you were in a Suite with a Butler. And in a room larger than an S1. Not casting shade on your decision, just clarifying what a Pent House is on Oceania.

I am sorry but you are right we had booked an A1 Concierge level veranda, it is hard to keep so many cabins designations straight.