abbydancer2003

7 minutes ago, JLMcruise said:

The icing on the cake with all of this - on February 20th I wrote the executive office an email - that the booking process needed to be fixed. I booked online and paid in full and as soon as the credit card went thru and I added my husband on - I was informed that I owed a balance because a "glitch" removed all of the discounts. I immediately called to have this corrected. The agent was trying to trying to charge us more. I had to "hold my ground" and read them the discounts that were offered online in order to get the correct price.  The executive office knew this was a B2B from my email and this should not have been permitted to happened. I even asked for the B2B discount LOL. You think someone from the office would have called me. I miss the old Celebrity. 

They probably wouldn't have caught it on the old Celebrity either.  

I'm sorry this happened, but it's not unique to Celebrity.  I seem to recall people doing them same on Princess, and then getting a letter or a call saying they had to cancel one.

In your wanderings, did you happen to see the Synagogue?  Oldest in the Western Hemisphere.  Still active.

On 2/24/2024 at 5:41 PM, OlyWACruiser98501 said:

We have booked a cruise on the respoitions cruise in April. We have not cruised in over 30 years. I have a question about dining. There are so many options. First:

 

1) Are the specialty dining packages a good value. Honestly, we prefer to just eat at a buffet each day, and avoid a full service meal. Is there an option to dine buffet style each evening? What is the main dining room assignment we got (late) involve? Is this a fine dining restaurant.

 

2) How is breakfast and lunch done on these cruises now? For a considerable stretch or two, we are at sea for 5 days or so. Are lunch options different on in port days?

 

3) We prefer not to have the formal dress nights. We are not going on a cruise to get into formal wear. On our last cruise, we were required one formal night. What happens now, three decades later?

 

4) We do not drunk alcohol, so are the beverage packages worth it?

 

Thank you for any and all tips.

Welcome.  Come visit us on the roll call, there's lots of good info there as well.

The Solstice has 4 specialty restaurants, Le Petit Chef (fun once), Murano (fine Frenchish), Tuscan (Italian) and Sushi on 5.    Since this is a 17 day cruise, and the buffet at dinner has some closed stations, you might want to try the restaurants.  (I got dining packages on my first few cruises).  

I think the rest have been answered.

I was told a few years ago that the butler could stock things they had in their "pantry", sodas, water,  beer - but not things like hard liquor.

And that hasn't changed with the team approach - I get what I ask for.

And for those of you who still haven't heard - the dedicated butlers will be back in the next few months.  

8 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If anyone is on the fence trying to decide whether or not to book one of Princess’ Antarctica cruises, I’ll just say this. If you have the time and your budget can handle it, go for it! You will not be disappointed as there is no place in the world like this, even if the weather isn’t as favorable as it was for us. 
 

But I will add this. If at all possible, book an aft-facing balcony cabin if the cruise you’re considering is on a Grand-class ship. Why? The “wind factor” is pretty much eliminated when you walk out on the balcony, even if the ship is heading into a 50+ knot wind storm. Besides that, the awesome scenery you will see will be visible on either side, the sunsets can be awesome, and there is no better place to be on sail away IMHO than an aft-facing balcony cabin. But I will also mention this. You need to book it early, as they do go fast. 😁

Very sound advice.  We had an aft on the Star Princess on our first Antarctic cruise, and it was fantastic.  Not that when seeing the glaciers in the Beagle channel, we had the naturalist on, describing the glaciers and about 6 minutes later, they'd come into view.  But we could see them on both sides.

19 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

Welcome to Aruba!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got off the ship a few minutes after 4, as did almost everyone else it seemed. Headed out to find the Dutch Pancake House:

 

 

 

That will be breakfast tomorrow morning!

 

 

 

Sitting here :

 

Having a couple Landsharks before heading back. There were a couple of stores on the main road we want to visit and rumor has it they may close at 6. 

mac_tlc

The Dutch Pancake House is my go-to in Aruba.  It's a great choice.

4 minutes ago, dlh015 said:

Well, I'm hoping that the butlers will be back on the Apex by April 13th! After all the times I told my DW that it would be fun *and* we would have a butler...then came the change.  (She has never been on a ship with a butler...)

 

Of course, one way or another it will *still* be fun...after all, we be cruising! Can't hardly wait!!

I was told Apex is next week.  E class is first in any case, so I'd think by April they'll be there.  

I think it would be useful for folks to post here when they get on a ship and have a dedicated butler, ie help everyone track the roll out and their own cruises.

1 minute ago, RK-NC said:

 

Will they stock the frig with water? When we booked, it said "water on embarkation day"  

Yes.  We ask for regular water, but there was some Evain there, and maybe San Pelligrino.  

I'm boarding another ship in 4 weeks.  If you want, I'll ask, but I don't think it will be a problem.

12 minutes ago, RK-NC said:

 

Adding to packing list - big bag for fetching. They must have a dedicated person constantly refilling the retreat lounge refrigerator...just seems ridiculous....

 

Sorry to read about your 45th anniversary cruise experience a few months ago. This is will be our first time on Celebrity and hopefully not our last. 

Why?  You'll have a butler.  They will get you everything you need.  

As as been said many times here in the last month - the butlers are coming back.  The E class roll out has started.  And in 3 head butler only cruises, we have yet to need to fetch anything.  

9 minutes ago, gone_cruisin said:

Hi everyone!

 

We're hoping over to Celebrity to The Retreat after recently cruising the Star Suites on RCL.  Absolutely loved it (and the Genie).  Booked this back in Sept of 2022 for a December of 2024 cruise on the Reflection in a Sunset Sky Suite.  

 

I don't frequent the boards very much, so I am just now discovering the butler removal from SS.  Clearly I am very disappointed as I booked this suite specifically for the amenities listed from Sept 2022.  

 

I am now second guessing the December cruise if the butler situation does not resolve itself before final payment.  For the price I am paying for this "suite", I cannot justify the cost if I am going to be getting a room steward that is overworked trying to assist.  I would rather just pay for a balcony at that point.

 

I hope people continue to update this thread to let everyone know if/when the butlers return.

They are bringing the butlers back and by December you should have your butler.  Last data I have is the rollout has started and should be on all ships by June.  So you'll be fine.

I thought I'd replied to this earlier to subscribe.  We got off when you got on.  

We liked Luminae, but they were better on the Apex about bring food from main or Blu.  We did it one night, but we had to special order the night before.  Also several times staff, when I asked about a special dining request, they had to check (usually could do it, though).  On Apex it was always just done.  

And it's too bad you couldn't salvage your Eden reservation.  We went, and Rozi's wife was our server.  She was lots of fun - reminded me of the actress/rapper Awkwafina in her role in Crazy Rich Asians.

The bar staff in  the retreat (Anne Marie and Emily were great - we miss them).

50 minutes ago, Shellyd22 said:

This is kind of wild to me. So many varying  experiences I’ve read recently. Wild that a company would market the same benefits/perks/inclusions but give vastly different service to customers. I know it will take time to rehire/train people but they just can’t treat everyone differently lol I know it’s not funny but seriously for real??? Following your live, I will be on Beyond in April. Enjoy your cruise 

You'll have a regular butler.  They're coming back in early March (I was told this by the Assistant Waiter who was my last dedicated butler - he's going back to his butler job then).

35 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Yes we had a very nice Crown Loft on Deck 17 on Symphony.  We loved it!

We had one in December.  We loved it too!

23 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

It’s dinner time on Day 2 — still no head butler sighting.

 

mac_tlc

At this point, I'd talk to the the concierges, they're pretty helpful.  Let them know you haven't seen/met your head butler.  

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

And we be home! Yay!! What a great adventure with a bunch of awesome memories! 😁

 

Thanks everyone for following along as well as providing some wonderful photos and thoughtful insights along the way!

 

Our next adventure will be a 22-day “glacier rich” cruise to Alaska on the Grand Princess starting April 30. Hopefully on this next cruise we will see more unique wildlife as well as a bunch more whale sightings! 🤞
 

As I mentioned earlier once I start my Live From thread for that cruise, I’ll post the link on this thread. 

Thanks, I just read most of it yesterday, as I was on a cruise myself.  I enjoyed it and it reminded me why, if I ever do another Antarctic drive-by it will be on Princess, rather than Celebrity.

We asked for, and got, potato chips every afternoon.  Our head butler arranged it.  This was Beyond last week.

It does.  I was just there.

15 hours ago, RichYak said:

Based on the time of day, I would say you’re already off to a bad start. I hope it improves. 

A point I forgot to mention earlier.  When we met our room steward/retreat host, I asked about the minibar, and if we could get my sodas of choice.  They were there later in the day.  I later found out he'd just called the head butler, and he provided them.  So I had no need of the head butler on embarkation day, but I had his card if I did need anything.

11 hours ago, Leigh from ATL said:

Hoping for some guidance for Equinox in June. We booked 20 days of back to back east west Med and SS after doing the Iceland Norway b2b on apex last summer. Loved Apex and have been on Equinox before but we are counting on having the butler service as we celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary. Hoping we don’t fall victim to the numerous “tests” we have heard about on the Equinox over the past few years. Seems they like making that ship their “Guinea pig” for changes. Any feedback is appreciated   

You'll probably have a dedicated butler if you're going in June.

And as for "tests" - nobody here knows.  At this point, Celebrity probably doesn't know. 

7 minutes ago, RichYak said:

Based on the time of day, I would say you’re already off to a bad start. I hope it improves. 

Not necessarily.   I didn’t meet ours til the second day and he turned out to be outstanding.   

1 hour ago, mac_tlc said:

Sounds like your experience was excellent. Our “butler” experience on Ascent was nothing like that, although we do love that class of ship. 
 

Just got on Beyond today for 11 days. We shall see what that experience is like.

 

mac_tlc

If you get George you’ll be well taken care of.  

4 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

Terry, I see you mention that the return of butlers to SS is waiting on hiring and training new butlers. Makes me wonder what happened to the old butlers that served SS up until a few months ago.

Some are coming back, but I’m sure some have moved on. 
 

A butler told new friends of ours that his friends who had been laid off were called about returning.   

58 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We returned last week from 22 days B2B on the Edge in Australia and New Zealand in a Sky Suite. There were several changes from our first non butler SS cruise last September on the Apex. First our room attendant had the title "Retreat Host" on his card, on the Apex that title was not given. I was able to call him directly anytime of day for things we needed, like ice and having our cabin made up when we left in the mornings and evenings. The other change, we prefer to have breakfast in our cabin every morning and we had the same crew member deliver our order every morning of the cruise, he got to know what we liked and disliked about our orders, and he would call our cabin every morning just before delivery. He even offered to set up our table and pour our first cup of coffee. This service was just like what we got from our old butler service and was not available on the Apex when breakfast was never delivered by the same person. Having the same delivery person also made it easy to give him an extra tip for the whole cruise.

 

Our Retreat Host was just as efficient as any previous butler with the exceptions of not being able to deliver drinks from the bar or stock our mini bar with drinks as was done prior to the butler changes. He did keep a good supply of bottled water in our cabin and fridge at no charge to us, not Evian like in the past, but the water was a good quality spring water produced in New Zealand. We tried to get Vitamin water as in the past but it was not available on the ship anymore.

 

I did discuss the butler changes with our Retreat Host and he confirmed that Celebrity was going to bring back dedicated butlers as soon as they could be hired and trained. He was leaving the Edge after our cruise and going home for a 2 month visit and then starting a new contract on the Ascent as a new dedicated butler. 

 

We were very disappointed with the deficiencies on the Apex by not having a butler, but our Edge experience was so much better. For now we are taking a break from Celebrity to wait and see how the changes are going. However, the one thing that will keep us away are the ridiculous SS pricing of future cruises and I do not see those prices dropping as long as people continue to book them.

Terry, thanks for this.  We were on the Apex in December, and had a somewhat different experience.  We met our head butler when we dropped our bags, and he made sure the soda we wanted was there.  He also arranged for coffee every morning, which was delivered by one of two different people.  We don't use the butler a lot anyway, and he was helpful in the rare time we needed him.

Next was 12 days in the Connie.  Our head butler was very visible, and we'd call him on mornings we wanted coffee, and a specific room service person would deliver it, and offer to pour.  When we wanted a small party in the room for with friends traveling with us, he arranged it, and the food was delivered by both our room service guy and him.  

I just disembarked the Beyond and our head butler seemed to be hurt when we didn't call him.  I was heading to the lounge to ask a question (we were having issues with our phone) I ran into him and he seemed hurt that I didn't call him.  His face lit up later when I asked him to bring my sister a sangria (she's got torn tendons so not very mobile right now).  

From our perspective, we haven't seen a service disruption, but I know others have.  Maybe if they'd been more consistent, they wouldn't have had to back pedel. That said,  I'm happy for the butlers getting their jobs back, as midcruise I ran into our last dedicated butler, who's now an assistant waiter, but will have his butler job back next month.

Hi

I'll have more tonight, but some quick things.

Yes, there's some creaking in our room.  Not enough to bother me, but someone in a Magic Carpet suite reported lots of it.

George is from India, and for all intents and purposes might have been our dedicated butler.

And they are definately doing the roll out on Edge class.  No idea when S or M will start.

I just finished a midterm that was hanging over my head, so here's my wrap up. 

The first leg of our trip home left Tampa at 12:30, so we had lots of time.  We had a last breakfast in Luminae (something we always do) and headed to the lounge.  Jioro was out with a bad back, so I missed having him kick me off a ship for the 4th time.  Instead, around 9:10 Penelope told us we had to leave.  

I'd texted Arie to ask if there was facial recognition and he said yes, but it was at the customs stand so we did have to show our passports.  No matter, it only took about 10 minutes all told.  

We grabbed our bags, and headed out.  We decided tto try for a Lyft ride, and it was only about 10 minutes before our driver came.  She was friendly and we talked about how she got free casino cruises.  

Tampla airport was also easy, and we were soon waiting at our gate.  We flew to Chicago, and then to San Francisco.  The only interesting thing was that our plane to SF went back to the gate, as the captain said that we were over our fuel weight, and they had to remove one passenger.  I've never heard of that, and I do wonder how they chose the passenger to remove.  Odd.

Some notes.

First, what I learned about the upcoming dry. dock.  Things will be refreshed, carpets, paint etc.  Also they are converting some of the back rooms (family verandas maybe?) to sky suites, so they are extending Luminae a bit.  I believe they'll take out the back wall, and move it further into the dining room.  They did that to the Infinity and there are pictures around.  They're also changing Michael's Club a bit.  I'm not sure if they're adding the food area.

We did have a very nice time on the cruise, and the staff was amazing as always.  If they bring back the longer cruises on her, I wouldn't hesitate to book again.  

Thanks to all who followed.  I have some notes from my current cruise on the Beyond, which I will be updating tonight, and then I'll do a live on the Solstice in March.