Don't expect your concierge embarkation lunch.

[RichYak]

27 minutes ago, itchtocruz said:

Our Vancouver flight arrives at 1:00 p.m. Celebrity website says that the lunch, which was one of the perks in choosing CC, is usually served until 2:00 p.m.  Anyone think it's worth rushing from airport to cruise terminal in the hopes of making it in time?  

Forget the lunch. It's worth rushing from the airport to the cruise terminal in the hopes of making it in time for sail away.

[abbydancer2003]

27 minutes ago, itchtocruz said:

Our Vancouver flight arrives at 1:00 p.m. Celebrity website says that the lunch, which was one of the perks in choosing CC, is usually served until 2:00 p.m.  Anyone think it's worth rushing from airport to cruise terminal in the hopes of making it in time?  

If the flight is on time, you probably won't make it.  It's about 25-35 minutes to the pier from the airport.  So let's say you arrive at 1:00, and get out of the airport at 1:25 with bags (slightly optimistic)  30 minutes to the pier, so you arrive there at 1:55.  It will take about 10 minutes to check in and board the ship, assuming no lines.  So no, you are unlikely to make it.

[sunonfire]

On 6/3/2023 at 1:20 PM, PMT51 said:

We booked concierge for our next cruise on Connie out of Tampa Feb 2024, mainly for the embarcation lunch. We were very disappointed with lunch offering on our last cruise (Edge out of Fort Lauderdale Feb 2023). The Mast Grill was horrible, Spa Cafe was closed, buffet was not yet open. 

When we booked our 2024 cruise Concierge class ws only $45 more than verandah. We figured the embarcation lunch would be a nice touch. Hopefully it will be available for our next cruise. We really don't need an event during the cruise to meet fellow concierge passengers.

 

We are booked in Ultra Concierge for November 2023 on the Constellation. We are expecting the Concierge Lucheon. We are 2 couples together in the Ultra Concierge. I’ll let you know after the cruise if we had the luncheon.

[Pennstatedj]

my wife is on Equinos this week and attended the concierge lunch on July 2. She reported it to be great as usual. 

[jwlane]

3 hours ago, itchtocruz said:

 flight arrives at 1:00 p.m.

No chance in this world you'll even be on the ship by 2.

[GottaKnowWhen]

Note that you need to get onboard the ship quickly. As others have said, that is not likely.

But assuming you magically get onboard (e.g., planes do sometimes land ahead of the scheduled arrival) then you need to first go up to 8th level, drop in the cabin whatever carryons you have, pick up your keycard (which shows your Concierge Class status) and then aft and down to level 4. Even if you know the ship intimately and have good luck getting uncrowded elevators, add at least 10 minutes to the time required from landing to lunch.

I like the Concierge Lunch. We try to schedule arrival and check-in times to make sure we can sit and enjoy that leisurely first meal aboard. Which for us has always meant we go to the embarkation city the day before, if not earlier.

[gold1953]

For our lunch on boarding day it was for B2B but same menu. We had this in Dec and again in Jan.  Different ship and different chef . It was quite good both times . We had the option of sharing a large table and other guests were also pleased with the food

[NutsAboutGolf]

13 hours ago, itchtocruz said:

Our Vancouver flight arrives at 1:00 p.m. Celebrity website says that the lunch, which was one of the perks in choosing CC, is usually served until 2:00 p.m.  Anyone think it's worth rushing from airport to cruise terminal in the hopes of making it in time?  

I’m fascinated…You do realize you need to be in the MDR by 2pm, not just the cruise terminal?

 

It’s not impossible depending on a lot of factors some you can control like bringing on carryons and others you cannot like traffic and port terminal congestion 

[drakes2]

46 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

I’m fascinated…You do realize you need to be in the MDR by 2pm, not just the cruise terminal?

 

It’s not impossible depending on a lot of factors some you can control like bringing on carryons and others you cannot like traffic and port terminal congestion 

It was a 35 minute drive last year from YVR to the cruise terminal. Pretty impossible to make a 2 pm concierge lunch. 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

14 hours ago, abbydancer said:

If the flight is on time, you probably won't make it.  It's about 25-35 minutes to the pier from the airport.  So let's say you arrive at 1:00, and get out of the airport at 1:25 with bags (slightly optimistic)  30 minutes to the pier, so you arrive there at 1:55.  It will take about 10 minutes to check in and board the ship, assuming no lines.  So no, you are unlikely to make it.

Add in customs - since according to their profile they are in Los Angeles.

 

So much has to go perfectly here I am nervous they even make the ship - forget the lunch.

[samofam]

This is just another example of cut-backs. One of the Zenith benefits is to attend the concierge lunch usually on embarkation day. However, Zenith CC members no longer have priority embarkation.

Zenith members are now assigned a boarding time at the time of checking in online.  How is a passenger supposed  to keep the boarding time of 12.30 - 1 pm and make it to the lunch without a rush, which is basically impossible when you walk with a cane.

I reached out to retreated support and asked for an earlier boarding time and was told 'regrettably' that is not possible. LOL. Holland America does it in one phone call!  Last week I booked 5 cabins on Holland for my whole family. My husband and I used to take our family on Celebrity. Not again. 

We have one more verandah cabin booked and one more suite. Then that's it spending our money on Celebrity.  There are too many choices in cruising to be subject to removal of benefits which take years to attain and when calculated out,  over $200,000 to reach Zenith status.

[PTC DAWG]

6 minutes ago, samofam said:

This is just another example of cut-backs. One of the Zenith benefits is to attend the concierge lunch usually on embarkation day. However, Zenith CC members no longer have priority embarkation.

Zenith members are now assigned a boarding time at the time of checking in online.  How is a passenger supposed  to keep the boarding time of 12.30 - 1 pm and make it to the lunch without a rush, which is basically impossible when you walk with a cane.

I reached out to retreated support and asked for an earlier boarding time and was told 'regrettably' that is not possible. LOL. Holland America does it in one phone call!  Last week I booked 5 cabins on Holland for my whole family. My husband and I used to take our family on Celebrity. Not again. 

We have one more verandah cabin booked and one more suite. Then that's it spending our money on Celebrity.  There are too many choices in cruising to be subject to removal of benefits which take years to attain and when calculated out,  over $200,000 to reach Zenith status.

I have yet to see them verifying boarding times…this is at Port Everglades..others may tell a different story..I’d show up at noon or earlier myself and see what happens..

Edited January 3 by PTC DAWG

[C4HCG]

20 hours ago, samofam said:

This is just another example of cut-backs. One of the Zenith benefits is to attend the concierge lunch usually on embarkation day. However, Zenith CC members no longer have priority embarkation.

Zenith members are now assigned a boarding time at the time of checking in online.  How is a passenger supposed  to keep the boarding time of 12.30 - 1 pm and make it to the lunch without a rush, which is basically impossible when you walk with a cane.

I reached out to retreated support and asked for an earlier boarding time and was told 'regrettably' that is not possible. LOL. Holland America does it in one phone call!  Last week I booked 5 cabins on Holland for my whole family. My husband and I used to take our family on Celebrity. Not again. 

We have one more verandah cabin booked and one more suite. Then that's it spending our money on Celebrity.  There are too many choices in cruising to be subject to removal of benefits which take years to attain and when calculated out,  over $200,000 to reach Zenith status.

Did you get value for money from those cruises? To me that’s the important bit. Moving forward, use another line but hopefully your memories justify the cost. 

Edited January 4 by C4HCG

[samofam]

Reply to #113. Yes, we consider that the value was excellent. When you compare the cost and what has previously been included. Plus Celebrity has always provided really good food and wine selection over the years.  Our memories are amazing and we always considered the cost was reasonable for what we received. We also did some really long cruises, Vancouver to Sydney, Rome to Fort Lauderdale to mention a couple.  It is sad to see this decline and it has happened rapidly. I would prefer to pay more to keep the quality up but unfortunately the quality has gone down even though prices have increased. 

[GottaKnowWhen]

21 hours ago, samofam said:

This is just another example of cut-backs. One of the Zenith benefits is to attend the concierge lunch usually on embarkation day. However, Zenith CC members no longer have priority embarkation.

Zenith members are now assigned a boarding time at the time of checking in online.  How is a passenger supposed  to keep the boarding time of 12.30 - 1 pm and make it to the lunch without a rush, which is basically impossible when you walk with a cane.

I reached out to retreated support and asked for an earlier boarding time and was told 'regrettably' that is not possible. LOL....

I am not Zenith nor have I traveled in suites, so I can't address that aspect of what you have seen in the past and how you see things have changed.

I am Elite+, so quite a few cruises on Celebrity, all in Concierge Class. We have always very much enjoyed the embarkation-day lunch, and I can understand your disappointment at missing that. I have found that it feels much less rushed when we have a relatively early embarkation time. And so I go online and request an early time within a few hours after they open up the check-in process, typically 45 days prior to sailing. Mostly recently, in Vancouver, we were aboard by 11:30, had dropped our things in the stateroom, picked up our room keys, and had over an hour to wait for the lunch to open. Fortunately the Pool Bar was open...