Upper Suite Benefits

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

5 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Here is another suite benefit that we received from MSC that 'was' lacking on Celebrity and RCCL. We are given our key cards at checkin with MSC and one now has the 'power' to go directly to an already cleaned cabin and drop off ones carry on luggage, and then zip off to the Top Sail Lounge for a drink before lunch in the YC restaurant. On RCCL one cannot access the Coastal Kitchen without key card (got to the doors and no concierge was on duty to let us in and no B2B's would bother getting up to open the doors) (they might even have been non suite Pinnacles for all we know in the CK). The key cards are either outside or inside cabin, but hallway doors are closed off to passengers as the cabins are being cleaned. On Celebrity we had to drag our carry ons to the Retreat Lounge then to the Luminae, then to the cabin to retrieve our key cards. Will check out the new Beyond next month sailing in an RS to see if anything has changed.

  P.S. It's the little details that make a big difference in a cruise vacation.

 

You must not have sailed with Celebrity lately.  Now you go directly to your cabin, drop your carryon luggage, collect your key, and then you are free to go to whatever venues are open.

[Georgia_Peaches]

11 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

You must not have sailed with Celebrity lately.  Now you go directly to your cabin, drop your carryon luggage, collect your key, and then you are free to go to whatever venues are open.

Wow!  That’s great!  So the cabins are ready right away?  

[canderson]

4 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Wow!  That’s great!  So the cabins are ready right away?  

No, not normally, but you can drop your carry-on there, pick up your card, and go wandering.  Way back when, you had to schlep your carry-on until cabins were completed.

[canderson]

We will have the treat of 3 consecutive cruises with Celebrity - a B2B and two dry docks (next in about a week) where no one else has been in our cabin, so ready when we board.

[zgscl]

1 hour ago, canderson said:

No, not normally, but you can drop your carry-on there, pick up your card, and go wandering.  Way back when, you had to schlep your carry-on until cabins were completed.

So looking forward to my first X cruise, but this is one thing I will certainly miss from HAL - rooms are ready at embarkation and it has been that way for years. No idea what their secret is but it is delightful 

[morpheusofthesea]

Here is another tip. Tag all carry on luggage so steward does not mistake your carry on with prior tenants luggage and has it removed from the ship.

[zgscl]

43 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Here is another tip. Tag all carry on luggage so steward does not mistake your carry on with prior tenants luggage and has it removed from the ship.

This is really useful to know. HAL has us so spoiled with rooms being ready when you embark. Do you just use the same tags you put on the checked luggage? 

 

Also, do you just print out your bag tags? I noticed the bag tag PDF mentioned I can order actual luggage tags, but I have not yet found a place to do so (though I could theoretically ask the shoreside concierge)

[Cruise Gopher]

25 minutes ago, zgscl said:

This is really useful to know. HAL has us so spoiled with rooms being ready when you embark. Do you just use the same tags you put on the checked luggage? 

 

Also, do you just print out your bag tags? I noticed the bag tag PDF mentioned I can order actual luggage tags, but I have not yet found a place to do so (though I could theoretically ask the shoreside concierge)

Celebrity no longer offers the option to order real luggage tags that they mail to you. You have to print them out from your  eDocs, or have the porter at the pier tag them. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

2 hours ago, Cruise Gopher said:

Celebrity no longer offers the option to order real luggage tags that they mail to you. You have to print them out from your  eDocs, or have the porter at the pier tag them. 

 

Perhaps they should add that as a Zenith perk... lol

Tom

[morpheusofthesea]

4 hours ago, zgscl said:

This is really useful to know. HAL has us so spoiled with rooms being ready when you embark. Do you just use the same tags you put on the checked luggage? 

 

Also, do you just print out your bag tags? I noticed the bag tag PDF mentioned I can order actual luggage tags, but I have not yet found a place to do so (though I could theoretically ask the shoreside concierge)

Yes. We just print out copies in black and white ink and use clear plastic card holders with wire to attach to luggage handles. Thanks for your insights !

[George C]

3 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Perhaps they should add that as a Zenith perk... lol

Tom

Should be a suite perk , rccl had mailed luggage tags for suites only . But stopped that about 5 years ago. I miss getting them in the mail.

   We lament them after printing them.

Edited October 26, 2022 by George C

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

25 minutes ago, George C said:

Should be a suite perk , rccl had mailed luggage tags for suites only . But stopped that about 5 years ago. I miss getting them in the mail.

   We lament them after printing them.

 

I had asked the (shoreside) concierge about getting them mailed for our upcoming Reflection sailing and was told they no longer do that.

For our Independence sailing (GS) a few months ago, they did indeed mail the tags to me.

 

Tom

[jagoffee]

14 hours ago, zgscl said:

So looking forward to my first X cruise, but this is one thing I will certainly miss from HAL - rooms are ready at embarkation and it has been that way for years. No idea what their secret is but it is delightful 

Do not start boarding until all cabins are ready?

Edited October 26, 2022 by jagoffee

[zgscl]

1 hour ago, jagoffee said:

Do not start boarding until all cabins are ready?

On HAL Boarding will begin around 11 or 1130 and rooms will be ready without fail by they time they start boarding. I’ve had it as early as 10:30 in some cases. Have never been delayed waiting for rooms either. They have done this for many years and have the turn down exceptionally well. They don’t rush you out of your room at the end either, even if you disembark last around 9:30. They may come in to strip/make the bed or grab towels, etc. while you are at breakfast but absolutely no pressure to be out before your disembarkation time. The turn around IMO HAL has mastered better than anyone 

Edited October 26, 2022 by zgscl

[George C]

2 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

I had asked the (shoreside) concierge about getting them mailed for our upcoming Reflection sailing and was told they no longer do that.

For our Independence sailing (GS) a few months ago, they did indeed mail the tags to me.

 

Tom

Thanks I will need to ask for them on next year’s harmony we always book grand suites on rccl.

[jagoffee]

18 minutes ago, zgscl said:

On HAL Boarding will begin around 11 or 1130 and rooms will be ready without fail by they time they start boarding. I’ve had it as early as 10:30 in some cases. Have never been delayed waiting for rooms either. They have done this for many years and have the turn down exceptionally well. They don’t rush you out of your room at the end either, even if you disembark last around 9:30. They may come in to strip/make the bed or grab towels, etc. while you are at breakfast but absolutely no pressure to be out before your disembarkation time. The turn around IMO HAL has mastered better than anyone 

It does sound like HAL does not start boarding before all cabins are ready.  I have only cruised on HAL once and I do recall that they did not require you to vacate your cabin until you were ready.  Impressive for sure.

[quicklabs]

We will be travelling in a RS on the Equinox soon.  Is it possible to get room service from Luminae or Blu for breakfast and/or dinner?  

[canderson]

12 minutes ago, quicklabs said:

We will be travelling in a RS on the Equinox soon.  Is it possible to get room service from Luminae or Blu for breakfast and/or dinner?  

Under normal circumstances, yes, but PLEASE advise your butler of your intention the day before, and make your menu choices early in the day if you can.

[islabahia]

2 hours ago, George C said:

Thanks I will need to ask for them on next year’s harmony we always book grand suites on rccl

Edited October 26, 2022 by islabahia

[phoenix_dream]

12 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Here is another tip. Tag all carry on luggage so steward does not mistake your carry on with prior tenants luggage and has it removed from the ship.

I guess it doesn't hurt to be extra careful, but have you ever heard of this happening?

[CHEZMARYLOU]

53 minutes ago, quicklabs said:

We will be travelling in a RS on the Equinox soon.  Is it possible to get room service from Luminae or Blu for breakfast and/or dinner?  

The room service breakfast menu for suites is not much different from Luminae's menu.  We usually get coffee, fruit and pastries from Luminae for breakfast. You can get dinner in your suite from Luminae, just let your butler know early that you want to do this.

[morpheusofthesea]

44 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

I guess it doesn't hurt to be extra careful, but have you ever heard of this happening?

Yes. Another poster some years back said her husband dropped off his bag and it was gone when they got back after lunch. Luckily the cabin steward who thought it was left by his prior charges was able to retrieve it on shore. The wife wrote that they did not have a luggage tag on it as they should have.

[danceswithphones]

35 minutes ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

You can get dinner in your suite from Luminae, just let your butler know early that you want to do this.

We ate every meal in the room on two sailings in the PH on the Constellation. M-class PH's rock! 

[Julma]

On 10/2/2022 at 10:09 PM, t18c97 said:

Unless you order a drink that’s outside your package you don’t get anything 

This past week on the Summit we did get a 0 balance slip that we signed.  We also were able to add a tip on the slip.

[Julma]

On 10/24/2022 at 12:00 PM, danceswithphones said:

I've seen photos of these laid out on the bed and already monogrammed. I forgot to ask the Shoreside Concierge about them. Do you think it's worth the effort to reach out about these? I'll never hear the end of it if DW doesn't get her PJ's. 

We received a set of pjs last week (Summit 10/15/22).  Asked butler on the first day and they arrived a couple of days later monogramed.  I don't think I would stockpile them, but these were my first and I was happy to receive them.