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Slick marketing and shameless hype to pedal the LEAST desirable cabin locations by appealing to "the snob factor???" :rolleyes:

 

NNOOO... surly NOT !!!??????

 

Aqua Class---"snob factor"? We book it only for Blu, not to impress anyone.

 

But I do agree that it is a good marketing strategy to get rid of those least desirable cabins. My husband, who sleeps through anything, is never bothered by noise from above and I rely on earplugs.

We are elite + and have been invited a number of times. The one time we went to the helipad it was so crowded that viewing the departure was almost impossible, unless you were right up front. We pushed our way back through the crowd that was still entering the area and went up to the top decks for the sail-away. We have never bothered with any other helipad departure. Perhaps sometimes the group is smaller so viewing the scenery possible?

We were on the October 2 sailing. Perhaps, just what we ordered, which I don't even remember now, but the Tuscan Grill was the biggest disappointment of the entire cruise. I do remember that I ordered some kind of gnocchi, which was pretty awful. The antipasto platter for two was good, but not the rest of our meal. We have enjoyed dining in Tuscan Grills on other ships, but the Summit experience is not recommendable. We were looking forward to some fairly authentic Italian cuisine, which this was not.

 

The service was fine. We were not aware of any standardized seating times, but were able to select a time we wished to arrive, about 6:30, and it was not busy.

 

Our meals and wine service in Blu on this cruise was far superior to the Tuscan Grill.

Were you on the Canada/NE itinerary? We are doing this on Summit next October.

 

We were on the October 2 Canada/NE itinerary this year. Loved the cruise so much we plan to book it again in a couple years. All port were great. Sailing down and back the St. Lawrence waterway was a feast for the eyes with brilliant fall colors and small villages. Quebec City is welcoming and walkable.

 

We were very lucky with the weather, sun and mild temps most days except for running into the remains of hurricane Matthew on the second week. The ship had to slow down to avoid most of the storm so that we did miss Bar Harbor.

 

The Summit was just fine for us. We had read some negative reviews before boarding about how run down it was with poor service. We did not find this to be true. Yes, the ship is older and may have some worn carpet but it was kept clean and in good repair when we were on it. Service in all areas was perfect. We found the food in Blu excellent. The Tuscan Grill was a disappointment----pretentious and unauthentic Italian cuisine. We have enjoyed the Tuscan Grill on other ships, but our meal on the Summit was disappointing.

 

I'm not sure if Captain Kate is still on the Summit, but what a delight. Her daily updates were anticipated by all because of her humor, practical port information and trivia she shared. Preceding our hurricane Matthew day, she presented a tv video with maps and charts to explain our slow down and strategy for avoiding the storm. Captain Kate was very visible around the ship and accessible for greetings and conversation.

 

You will love your Canadian/NE cruise next year!

Others will confirm this but you can call Celebrity five times and get five different answers. The history here is that they remove certain wording from the web site and may remove a perk at some point later. One of those things taken away was the unlimited bottles of water, just giving a bottle of water when you get on board is new wording. Also, you are the first to say that AQ gets all these new Concierge perks.

 

This is true---different agents, different answers. She did tell me that the new concierge perks will apply to AQ. I am doubting that after reading a new thread on Cruise Critic about what perks apply to AQ. Two recent cruisers reported that the new Concierge lunch was not open to AQ cabins.

You now get "Welcome Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine with a commemorative label featuring exclusive art work" in Concierge, but " Welcome bottled water" in Aqua.

 

Seriously? when something is listed as a perk when I book, I expect it to be there when I get to my cabin. If this isn't just another example of incompetence by the website team then it's a good way to alienate a lot of customers.

 

I have been pondering this discussion about CC and AQ and finally called the Captain's Club to ask if AQ still receives all the services and amenities provided in CC class. The agent I spoke with assured me that all the CC benefits are still included in AQ staterooms. (including the New concierge services) That would mean that the welcome sparkling wine will also be waiting in AQ cabins----oh along with that one bottle of water. I choose to believe this agent rather than the incomplete web description.

The perks seemed to have changed again!!

 

We have a september cruise booked on Relfection. This time we booded AQ as we fancied the use of the persion gardens and dining in blue.

Our last cruise was CC and even though we enjoyed it, the spa was a big bonus for us

 

Checking the uk web site i now see AQ is listed as having access to the relaxation room only..not the persion gardens!

 

I realy don't understand how we can book one thing and then when we turn up discover we have lost one of the main reasons we booked that class of cabin.

 

Also notice that 'welcome water' is listed rather than sparking wine! Not important for us, but it may be for some people.

 

I just checked the US website and the Persian Gardens is still listed as a perk for AQ. The welcome bottle of sparkling wine I did not see listed. As dkjretired noted, AQ used to get all the benefits of CC but I guess that has now changed.

I just came back from Bermuda. I was in a Aqua cabin and it was 100$ cheaper than a CC. On the M class ships the Aqua cabins are in a poor location IMO, before they existed the deck nine ones were CC and deck 11 was a nice place to sit. Adding Blu was just a draw to sell poor space at a higher price. I like Blu and Luminar because they are small, rather quite,offer good service, are really open sitting and have a relaxed dress code. Food is good however food is food.

 

I hadn't read your response prior to posting below. I agree with everything you said.

It makes people feel important. To have a restaurent dedicated to aqua class, makes them feel special. A great marketing plan by Celebrity my neighbors not only went on a cruise they went aqua class. When telling me about there cruise they referred to everything as Aqua class. We just get a simple balcony and eat in the specialty restaurents but we were not as important as them or as they thought they were. It's a great deal for Celebrity but a would not pay extra money for food to eat in there. It's not very different then the MDR. Just my opinion.

 

Ridiculous---who goes on a cruise to feel important! We like Blu for the same reason we like specialty restaurants---a smaller and much quieter venue with no wait staff frantically running back and forth.

what's the big deal? get it at any bar, restaurant or lounge. Everyone has a water, classic or premium package at this point

 

Absolutely NOT true! We never choose the beverage package as an amenity. We don't drink sodas; as Elite + enjoy the cocktail hour; then pay for a couple bottles of wine during a cruise. The bottled water was a real incentive for booking AQ. We will miss it!!!!

What's the big deal? Almost everyone in AQ has a beverage package perk. Just pick up a bottle at any bar on the way back to the room.

That is not true---we have never had a beverage package and plan to book Aqua on every cruise. I will miss the water!!!!

To hook up an iPad to HDMI you just use an adapter cable.

 

What do you plug the adapter cable into on an ipad? :confused:

 

You buy an]Ipad lightening adapter [/b]which connects the ipad to the HDMI cable.

Hi,

We are on Constellation right now and are also Blue Chip members. I had drinks last night with a Celebrity shoreside Blue Chip manager about the changes. Constellation casino is the first to institute the changes and it will be the same fleetwide.

100.

 

What is a blue chip member?

We had one of these deck 6 extended roof balconies one time and were very unhappy with it even though the balcony was deeper. We found the expended roof very distracting and missed being able to see what was happening water level next to the ship---ie in port when docked. It was a very quiet room and location.

Back to deck nine, I do not like the overhand as it makes the room dark, you really can not look up, and it makes me feel closed in when on the balcony.

 

I agree 100%; no sunshine on the balcony any time of day. I do realize this is a plus for some.

Jewel doesn't have the DL yet, will get in drydock, but they do set aside Hollywood Odyssey in the Viking Crown for the evening cocktail hours. It has a dedicated bar and the crudites, etc.

 

Not sure about Diamond. As Diamond Plus I do get internet minutes. But I know they recently changed it from 45-60 minutes over the course of the cruise to must be used within a 24 hour period.

 

I also do get one free bag of laundry on a 6+ days (?) cruise. Again, don't remember if this applies to Diamond. And as I never use it, that might be gone.

 

They will leave a list in your cabin of the benefits loaded on your seapass.

 

What about the Brilliance? Do you know if it has a DL?

[quote name='jenniebnyc']Food and dining experiences are also VERY subjective.

Some folks don't mind room temp food that should be served hot. Some folks don't cook, aren't great cooks and/or eat simply when they are off the ship making the food on the ship a gourmet treast. Any of these could make the food in BLU seem terrific.

I am a good cook if I do say so myself and have a high standard when dining. Not to say I need fine dining all the time. I am perfectly happy with a burger, mac and cheese or pizza too, but food must be prepared from fresh ingredients by trained chefs and served to me at the correct temperature.

One example is how many love the crepes in Bistro on 5. Granted I have only tried them once, but what I had was a gloppy mess of food piled into a crepe. To me, crepes are delicate, should not be stuffed to the gills with things like buffalo chicken. So you see, "subjective", bc others on this board would say it's the best thing since sliced bread.

When I am dining out, I expect people to cook for me as I know how to cook, especially if I am paying top dollar to do so.

I will say it again, simple---quality---fresh---served at the right temperature---with a smile. If you get these right you are more than half way there.

BLU is not there. Neither is the MDR. Looking forward to Luminae in January.[/QUOTE]

I feel as though you wrote your note in response to the one I just posted about being very happy with Blu's menu and service. I too, am an excellent cook and actually a pretty fussy eater. At home we are very critical and selective about where we dine. That said, we definitely felt that our dining experience in Blu was excellent. Our food was appropriately served hot, not at room temp, fresh and served with a smile. I hope our next experience in Blu will meet the same standards.

We LOVED Blu on the Eclipse--two week Caribbean cruise a couple months ago. After many Celebrity cruises this was our first time in Aqua and now it will be difficult to go back to Concierge or Veranda. The dinner choices were fine with plenty of options for us including the option to order vegetarian or standard items such as shrimp cocktail, onion soup etc every night. What we liked best was that the noise level was much lower than the MDR, having the same waiters and sommolier every night ,and having the same table of our preference. Our service was immediate and efficient. The whole dining experience was much more relaxed than in select dining or the MDR.

 

We did eat at a fairly early hour--6:15 to 6:30 finding that the tables began to fill if we waited unitl 7 PM. I did notice that by the time we left folks were lined up to be seated.

 

I can't comment on Blu's breakfast since we prefer room service or the continental choices at the Elite breakfast.

 

Obviously from the comments of this thread some experiences in Blu have not been so positive. I hope we are lucky again on our next two cruises. We thought it was wonderful!

I'd NEVER eat in a specialty restaurant unless it's 50% off, because it's just so easy to get that discount. Only a few days until we are on Silhouette for two weeks, and I'm looking forward to the lamb chops at the Lawn Club. :D

 

Tuscan USED to be my absolute favorite, but the quality of the steaks and other menu items there has PLUMMETED in the last few years. :(

 

With $450 OBC this time, I will probably end up giving Tuscan another chance, just because the overall experience is still pretty nice.

 

I was on the Reflection transatlantic 6 months ago and had absolutely no complaints about the MDR food OR service.

 

We have friends on Reflection right now who have reported the MDR experience is total chaos due to the advent of Luminae... hour long waits for seating in select. THAT sounds a bit melodramatic, so we will reserve comment until we see for ourselves.

 

Please tell me how to get a discount for the specialty restaurants? On one cruise we were offered a discount on embarkation night but that is the only offer I remember receiving.

Thanks

 

 

As stated, If you don't like the shows in general, why would you attend for only to walk out in the middle of the production?

I find people who act as you do to be very inconsiderate and rude towards others not to mention the entertainers. :(

 

I am with the OP on this one about attending shows. We always sit at the bar in the last row of the theater so we can exit early if the the show is not entertaining to us.

Sounds like a lot of people don't eat/want them. Wonder if they "reuse" the ones left on desk tops or in drawers or just throw them out. "Ick" if they do the first and huge waste if they do the second.

 

Well, I for one love the chocolates and do eat them! I honestly do try to avoid eating desserts on a cruise (don't think many are very good anyway) so many evenings I am craving a bit of sweet and the chocolate is perfect, before bed or after lunch the next day. But now that I know I can gets chocolates at Cafe al Baccio I'm really in trouble! The other treat I can't resist are the cookies at Cafe al Baccio; so now double trouble.

So I am confused by this conversation. Is Michael's Club no longer a public lounge on any of the Celebrity ships?

Stockholder request to ta? Unless this is a very recent change (since January), it's not true. All requests go to rcl investor relations.

 

Yes, I agree, requests are still sent directly to RCL investor, not through ones TA.

Are complimentary cappuccinos, espressos included with the AQ breakfasts? We usually eat breakfast in the elite lounge because we enjoy the continental-type

menu and the cappuccino. We have booked an AQ cabin for our next cruise because we have heard such great reviews on Blu; but I didn't even consider that they served breakfasts.

We leave in just over two weeks and I have been in negotiations with my husband over the formal night attire. On all of our previous cruises he has always worn a dark suit and tie but suddenly he is saying, "NO MORE!" He is not a fan of suits or tuxes on vacation. In his opinion a tie is kin to a straight jacket and doesn't belong on vacation :rolleyes: As of right now he has agreed to the suit sans tie... I will pack the tie in hopes that with a cocktail or two in him I can persuade him to put it on :D

 

My husband has also come to the same conclusion. No tie for him on our last two cruises; just the suit and a nice shirt. I thought he looked just fine and we weren't thrown out of the MDR.