delondin

yes, they had some lunch hours but we didn't know that until we went down and they were closed.

You should have been given a welcome folder with info re michaels club and luminae.

We were on this ship as well. We did not receive free drinks or canapes. We were booked in a Royal Suite with all inclusive and received no information once we were on board (around noon) about anything. We found the buffet had some basic food, bar service was a long line. We wandered about the ship, but lines were so long everywhere, we gave up and went back to our room. Glad you experienced the freebies but the rest of us couldn't find them even asking wait staff, room steward, and butler.

Was Luminae closed?

Cooking what you've ordered after you've ordered it. This is in contrast to the MDR where they have an endless supply of the meals from the night's menu being cooked continually and your waiter simply gets given the most recent one out of the oven for you.

I was told by the waiter that it is cooked just for you, rather than on a conveyor belt like in mdr. We really like it there, but saying that Blu is not far behind, just a little more frenetic.

Celebrity really need to upgrade their suite package. On Cunard we were in the cheapest Princess suite, the restaurant was open for breakfast, lunch and dinner EVERY day, and the table was yours for the duration, and you could turn up anytime during opening hours.

 

And the food and service were excellent!

I think one important difference is luminae was added later and it is probably not large enough to accommodate all suite guests at once, whereas in the Grills you have an allocated seat for the duration of the cruise.

We did it last year and it is probably our favourite cruise, and we are lucky to have done quite a few.

Our highlight was swimming with a humpback whale and its calf on a celebrity excursion in Moorea - obviously this is not guaranteed but we were lucky.

Also recommend Patrick's (Maohi nui) tour in Bora Bora - swimming with the reef tipped sharks and sting rays. This gets booked up in advance.

If you can stay a few days in Hawaii precruise and in Sydney too. We only stayed two days post cruise (work calls) and it wasn't long enough.

The weather can turn a bit cooler on the last leg but it was still pleasant. On the last sea day it was very windy and we nearly stayed in our cabin but it was glorious by the pool.

Get the best cabin you can afford as it is worth it with so many sea days to enjoy it.

I would do it all again if the opportunity presented itself. Even with the long flights from the UK.

I would love to see them have both the fancy burger and the old burgers that are currently on the ships but believe they would have put that in their release so don't see that as an alternative.

 

Another point that hasn't been mentioned is that there has already been a dumbing down of the Mast grill several years ago. It used to be that you had all the items currently there but they added another food each day. One day it might be ribs, another day chicken, etc. That was previously eliminated.

 

We should remember that this is not about a hamburger it's about the nickel and dining and I realize other lines are doing it. Remember the controversy a few months ago about the bottled water in Aqua. It all adds up.

 

Personally, I think this whole thing with the burgers is also in a way about going to "modern luxury." Get rid of the regular burgers, do an upscale burger. It feels to me that they are trying in their way of getting rid of many cruisers and going to a certain demographic. Don't feel I'm in that demographic anymore

I don't disagree with what you're saying (we are elite) but wondered what demographic you consider yourself to be compared with the demographic they are after. Do celebrity even know what demographic they are after? They seem to send out mixed messages.

We are at sea today. Since we left Civitavecchia on Tuesday the seas have been some of the calmest I have ever felt on a cruise. You wouldn't even know you were at sea unless you looked out the window. That changed today. It was off and on foggy and very windy and coolish with some small swells although it hasn't moved the ship around a lot. They have been closing certain deck areas because of wind since yesterday evening. Felt fine to me when sitting on my balcony, although I did put on a light sweatshirt. We slept in a bit this morning and then Mike went off for a pedicure at the spa. Afterward we had our first lunch at Oceanview which was quite good. It was an Italian themed lunch with lots of great choices. After lunch we took a walk around the ship to check out any areas we hadn't seen yet and then spent a few hours in the casino. Machines were pretty tight for awhile and then all of sudden started paying out left and right. Both Mike and I recovered all our losses from earlier in the day and I hit another jackpot. When we came back to the cabin we discovered a whole group of treats waiting for us. Our butler Jesus (who is very friendly and helpful) even took the two bottles of sparkling wine that we were ignoring (free as Suite guest and one from casino) and traded them in for a bottle of Perrier Jouet champagne which we had him send down to Tuscan Grille for our dinner tonight.

 

 

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We never got goodies like this when we were staying in a sky suite. Is it because of the casino or were we just unlucky ?

Have been following this. Your photos are amazing. We are on the Constellation in June and originally had the accessible s2 on deck 9, allocated as guarantee booking. We switched to a non accessible on deck 6 as soon as one came up (4 months later) partly because we had read about noise from ping pong above. Did you have any issues?

I already booked aqua class for Blu. I read some other post that Gastro bar might be open and serving lunch? What about sushi on five? Is that open for embarkation?

 

 

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It was open for lunch on our last cruise on Solstice in September. We had a very nice lunch there.

On deck 12 is the noise from above just on the balcony or in the cabin too. We are not early risers!

Worse thing I saw in Aqua spa cafe was the man who put his trainers (sneakers) on the table.

Thanks

I understand that on Constellation Michael's Club has an outside area. Is this adjoining the club and is it exclusive to suite guests?

We returned from The Reflection last week. The first full day our Butler brought the "treats" and asked if we preferred to have them delivered to our Stateroom or go to Michaels Club. We preferred Michaels Club since we rarely eat them with so much food everywhere and didn't want another intrusion while in our Cabin. We had on of the best butlers on this cruise. His name is Vishnu.

It's nice if you just fancy a cup of tea and a biscuit/cookie without the temptation of scones, cream and cake that would be available if you go to Michael'a club for the "full works". Also it's not an intrusion if you just put your do not disturb sign on. It was also nice if you are 'out' to return to the

Cabin with a light snack when you are maybe not eating until 8.30 pm, which our last butler did after getting to know us. I think it is also nice to have that 'bonding' time with your butler.

We really enjoy our afternoon tea in the cabin. Wouldn't want to make the effort of going to Michaels club daily and I then think they would decide not enough people going there so would end up phasing it out completely.

Also a nice chance to have a chat with the butler.

On our recent cruise Honolulu to Sydney on solstice I remember one port had the red carpet and it looked like it was where new passengers were joining the ship.

We did the Honolulu to Sydney cruise in September and a few weeks before we sailed they were offering discounts on the drinks packages and on board when I was standing near a bar looking at the drinks listings the barman told me they were offering 20 percent off but this wasn't advertised anywhere that I could see. I think it depends on how many they have sold.

Unfortunately I have reached that point in my life; and I agree with you on this point!

What you also have to ( with time differences etc)

remember with travelling is your night suddenly becomes day. However regardless of this whenever is it ok that you do not have any light at all - never

Why is everyone so tolerant? It is not acceptable to have a room in complete darkness no matter what length of time. Surely it is up to the cruise line to be pro active contacting the passenger assuring them it will be fixed giving them a timeline for repairs and trying to 'sweeten' the situation. Not left to the passenger to realise they should have emergency lighting - why would they?

I certainly wouldn't expect to be staying at a 4 or 5 star land based hotel for say one night and have to spend it in complete darkness and then Upon checkout charged the full amount and given a bottle of wine, whether I drank alcohol or not as acceptable compensation.

We had a wonderful butler on our last Celebrity cruise, but it did stop me ordering things from room service, particularly lunch as I know they rarely get rest and I thought I would be disturbing him, at maybe the only time he got a chance to relax. Whereas if normal room service delivered I wouldn't feel like that. Any thoughts?

Another vote for Molecular. Spent every night there on all our cruises. World class just not in the same league and bar tenders not a happy bunch for some reason. Maybe they feel the same!

The usual happy hours in the diamond lounge. On the three day sailing they were saving seats in the theatre for diamond plus but it wasn't apparent on the four day sailing.

Just off harmony and we had comp champagne, wine, beer and soda from a selection ie not whatever you like, from 11 am till 11 pm. Usual happy hours 5 till 8.30 for spirits etc. if you wanted spirits apart from happy hours then you had to purchase. Only for grand suites and above in suite lounge, although junior suites can use coastal kitchen in evening I do not believe this includes suite lounge - it is all one big room.

Would be great if you could get an update on the molecular bar.

We did these cruises but as two separate cruises spread over two years. You brought the memories back so thank you.