SLOTheta

I would say that was my experience, too. He liked to crack jokes and organize free slot pulls. But, every time I had a question about comps, future cruises, points, etc, he never gave me an answer. I thought the point of a casino host was to encourage consistent gamblers to come back. All the free gimmicks just draw people in who wouldn’t typically spend a lot of time or money in the casino.

I’m having a brain freeze and I can’t recall our Casino Host’s name. I came off the Solstice yesterday. I played every day for several hours, a mix of slots, tables, and roulette. It was moderately busy. It never was super packed, which was fine by me. I asked the host several times how comps and perks go, since with amount of gambling, I would have expected free Dinners, spa discounts, free cruise offers delivered to my room (my experience with HAL) he said he would review my play and comp me at the end. I reminded him the last night. Nothing was done to adjust my bill. We shall see if I get any offers in the coming weeks. But, my first experience gambling on Celebrity wasn’t as fruitful as I would have hoped (lost quite a bit and didn’t get any comps). I am MGM platinum (I go to vegas once every other month) and sail on HAL typically. I’m not sure if I will try Celebrity again since gambling and the perks that go with it are a big part of enjoyment.

On Thursday, we had a sea day. On our first day in the ship, the had a raffle at the spa. It was packed waiting for the prizes. We didn’t win anything, but we were given a flyer for the “Managers Special” that was $199 for a message if you booked that day. We were looking to get a massage during our trip, but most were $299 to $399. We had our massages on Thursday at the same time. It was really nice experience. My therapist was very good and I loved the Elemis products. I didn’t but then in the ship since I buy directly from the site when they have 20% off sales. After our massage, we spent time in the Persian Garden. We loved the heated loungers and the warm sun that came through the room. I spent about 4 hours gambling on the sea day, with no huge successes. But, lots of free drinks and enjoyment out of gambling. Thursday was another dress up night. It was nice to see people dressed up (to varying degrees) We had another delicious dinner in Blu that included lobster. I also ordered Duck a l’orange from the MDR and it was huge! Even though the duck was great, I wish I had ordered 2 lobster tails. I ordered a dry rose to go with my lobster and it was very reasonable at $10. My sister had the filet mignon that was cooked perfectly (more rare).

Our final port day was in Puerto Vallarta. I have a friend who lives there, she was able to book us a reservation at the El Dorado Restaurant and Beach Club. It’s a bit if a taxi mafia as soon as you get off the ship. The exit was about a 5 min walk to the right from the port lot. We walked across the street to the VIPS restaurant, in front of walmart and I called a Uber. I was taken advantage of the last time in PV, where we were charged $20 for a quick ride. It was $7 including tip with Uber. At the El Dorado, there’s a minimum spend of $25 per person, but no additional rental fees. They had super comfy loungers and great food. It was our last day and we hadn’t bought any souvenirs or gifts. There was a constant flow of sellers coming by, all very nice if you didn’t want to buy anything and moved on quickly. We bought very well priced hats, shawls, jewelry, carvings, etc. the beach was pleasant and water a decent temperature. The only thing about the beach club is we were chastised by one of our servers for buying fresh oysters from one of the sellers who came by. Seemed a bit needless since we spent $120 USD in food and drinks at the restaurant already. The oysters were a few dollars. Other than that, It was a great day on the beach We received an invite to the sail away on the Helipad when we’re back in the room. I’m not sure why we received it, but glad we did. They served champagne and mimosas. Several of the crew members were there and it was a beautiful sail away.

We never saw it on our printed menus on the Solstice. If I had not read on cruisecritic that I could order from the MDR, I would have never seen or known of my options. It was never mentioned by the staff and not printed anywhere while we were in the Blu

Auto tips to me, is the bare minimum. For a full service meal, leaving a few dollars in appreciation is how I show my gratitude.

On the Solstice, in the Blu, there’s no section called “every day classics”. There is a section called “Timeless Appetizers” available on the MDR menu that includes the items noted above. Here are the screen shots from the MDR, followed by a sample of the Blu menu, which doesn’t have an every day classics section.

After our beach day in Mazatlan, we headed to Murano for the Veuve Clicquot dinner. The max was 10 people, but there were only 6 of us. My sister and I were seated with a group of 4 around a circle table in the front. They were from LA, and very lovely dinner guests. We had 3 champagnes and 2 still wines. All were carefully explained, with historical tidbits about Madame Clicquot. The sommelier was very knowledgeable. Each dish was perfectly paired. I don’t eat red meat and was able to sub out the filet Mignon with lobster. Everything was delicious and was worth the $200. Even though they added tax and gratuity to our account, the service was excellent, we left a nice little extra for the staff. We had plenty of champagne after all was poured and they would pour out whatever was left if you asked. I would definitely do this dinner again and was surprised so few people took advantage of it.

We left the Solstice today and during the last night, a couple who had dined in the Blu every night, gave little bags of chocolates to the staff. They had packed them in a cooler bag. We sat next to them almost every night. Nice gesture, but they never left a tip each of the nights they were there. Of course, the staff was all polite. But, I’m sure they would have preferred the cash.

That’s is not what customer relations told us. It was our first time in the ship, so I went to ask the first day. We were assigned a MDR time, should we want to go there. She told us to let the MDR maitre D know when we arrived what nights we planned on eating in the MDR and we would have the same table during our set dining time.

1) Not of the items you show in your post above ever showed up on the Blu menu. They were all on the MDR menu on Solstice. Maybe it’s on other ships, but escargot, shrimp cocktail and onion soup, Cesar salad, etc never showed up once. We also ordered duck and desserts from the MDR that weren’t on Blu. Maybe it was just our staff who was accommodating. I’m glad they were and they received a nice tip at the table every night

I always tip a minimum 10% on take out. These staff members are making minimum wage, giving 10%+ isn’t going to impact me greatly.

I left the ship today and there wasn’t an issue bringing soft drinks on when we on onboarded and in port stops. I would bring a 6 pack for each of you to start. If you gamble in the casino, you can get free soft drinks there. Every port, pick up some more soft drinks. The drink packages are way over priced. If your likes to have a couple of drinks, they can bring 2 bottles of wine to consume in your room without charge. I would buy a drink here and there at dinner and then bring the glass back to the room to use it for wine, you can walk around the ship with your wine glass without issue.

Our 2nd port day was Mazatlan. I had stopped here before on our last Mexican cruise before Covid in 2019. There isn’t a ton to see or do, but I wanted some nice beach time. We decided to go to Stone Island. We had to take a trolley out to the gates of the port. We walked right and ran into a bunch of construction so we hailed a pulmonia, which is a golf cart like vehicle that has been upgraded. It was $3 to get to the ferry pier. It’s 40 pesos each person for the round trip to Stone Island. It’s best to bring pesos, since you’ll get up charged by using USD. The ferry ride was quick, it’s a small fishing type boat that fits about 20 people We walked 10 minutes across the island, through unremarkable roads and arrived at Lety’s. I had read good reviews about the food and drinks. We asked for spots near the beach and they had 2 loungers available. If you buy food, the umbrella and lounge chairs are included. We ordered guacamole and 2 Don Julio Palomas. It was $20 including tip, great deal for a few hours of lounging by the beach. It was quiet and didn’t have a ton of people, and very few tourists. We walked back to the ferry stop and there were several boats waiting. We arrived at the port and took the 20 mins walk back to the ship. We bought a few trinkets and souvenirs at the shops right before you board the ship. Very good pricing

MDR dining time was both in our reservation and in the app. Maybe it was a glitch, but it showed in our app