bigbenboys

9 hours ago, D. B. said:

I had not been on Eclipse in 10 years and it is still in good shape.

Boche ball lawn bowling was fun and the Hollywood Hot Glass thing is still interesting.

Overall I did think the Eclipse is in good shape. I made 2 glass pieces.

10 hours ago, Cruisin4ABruisen said:

We were on this cruise too — first cruise since earning Elite. We thought it was pretty good overall. OVC had a good selection and food was good. We also did the “Wines of the world” event at cellar masters. $30pp but good wine and plentiful. 
 

We caught the tail end of the Seattle mess, probably was in line around 45 minutes. Definitely wasn’t ideal, but it beats standing around in Canada Place for hours, like our last trip out of there. 

Yes, I have been in the Vancouver mess before.

10 hours ago, bnurick said:

Thank you for the review.  We have a CS on Eclipse in October.  Did Roland provide water in your suite or did you have to visit the lounge to get?  I really prefer the large Evian bottles late at night before bedtime.  Trying to figure out what to expect.  Thank you.

We were in 1622. Ronald did say we could drink the water bottle on the counter. I think it was Evian in a tall clear glass bottles and the 2 plastic bottles.

11 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Thank you for the review. Please forgive me but I’m not understanding what happened here. What was the hiccup?

The hiccup was that Immigration in Seattle was to be about 1 hour. It took 4 hours.

We have been cruising with X for many years now. Mostly sky suites the last 5 years. This was our 1st time booking a Celebrity Suite. My MIL and her sister booked just before final payment. They booked a V1.

We took the train from Seattle to Vancouver BC and stayed at the Pan Pacific hotel at Canada Place. Our room was available when we checked in at 1pm. The next morning the bellman picked up our bags and sent them to the ship.

As we were in suites we were checked in just as we walked in about 11:30am. They checked us and my MIL's cabin. All 4 of us were escorted to a separate line for suites. After scanning of us and our carry-ons we went to a Retreat area with water, coffee and food. Retreat staff said we could board now. So we went on board. I looked for the sparkling wine. No sparkling wine, not even near Café al Bacio. We got our seapass cards and check out our cabins. I surprised my DH with the CS.

We dined in Luminae, Murano, MDR (select section) and OVC for breakfast and lunch. My worst meal was the ribeye in Luminae. The steak lacked taste and was like shoe leather. My best meal was the Prime Rib in the MDR. I ate 2 Prime Ribs. I will say when I get the PR in Luminae from the MDR it is twice as thick as the one I got in the MDR. Over all the OVC was very good. Some of the pork was really good. What I missed was the baked potatoes, minute steak, chicken and pork medallions cooked to order.

Our butler was Ronald. We had breakfast each morning at 7am by delivered Ronald. I told Ronald one time what I wanted each morning (Coffee, fruit, croissants). Ronald saw a birthday card in our suites. He check and saw that my DH did have a birthday in Sept. One night after dinner we had a bottle of wine (4 glasses) and a cake on the coffee table. When it comes to butlers, Ronald is in my top 3. Ronald had 8 suites to attend too. The staff in Luminae were wonderful. We new the Luminae maitre d from last year on Solstice. Also on our sailing was a former Captain's club host that is now a officer. We have known her for 15 to 20 years. So proud of Rose.

The ship did have one hiccup. We left from Vancouver BC to San Pedro. We did not have Immigration in Vancouver as we were going to Victoria. So we had to Immigration in Seattle. Celebrity had to zero out Eclipse guests. We met at MC to be escorted down. I was told to wait 45 mins as the lines are long. Well it went from bad to really bad. The 4 of us went back to my suite. We could see the line from our balcony. This is what I was told after we were back on the ship. "Celebrity had been told that US and Canadian citizens could just show their passport and move to the holding area." While waiting in line we were told US and Canadian citizens could just show their passports. So we lucked out. We were not in the holding area very long. X had to bring out water and sandwiches. X was doing what they could. BUT, I heard one guy say he had been their for 4 hours. I'm sure some were there for 4 hours. 

Overall our sailing with X was good. I'm hoping in time the new staff will get up to speed. X will add more staff. I did not book another cruise. I'm going to keep our sky suite on Apex for next June. I might try for a CS. It comes down to 2 things. Quality of meat and price of suites. I really think the best deal on X is the AquaClass cabins at this time. Blu is very nice.

I found this on X website.

02_03_23_SP_AquaClass-Amenities-Flyer-2023-Updated.pdf

We were in suite on Eclipse. We dined in the MDR last week for one night. I had 2 Prime Rib dinners. The Chateaubriand for two in Murano was very good. The worst steak I had was a Ribeye in Luminae. The steak was tasteless and like shoe leather to cut. Luminae staff were great as always.

4 hours ago, micruiser2002 said:

Was the OBC from CEL or from your TA?  I have never had my OBC posted to another persons account just by linking reservations.  I have had it happen when from a TA without linked reservations because of an error on their part.

The $150 was on the V1 booking. That is what I dont get. My $600 was on my booking. I'm the stock holder. Why did X send it to my MIL's cabin account. I have used the same TA for 20 years. I booked glassblowing with OBC. Booking Murano was with OBC through the Retreat Concierge phone number before we sailed. Just one of those IT things.😵

4 hours ago, micruiser2002 said:

Was the OBC from CEL or from your TA?  I have never had my OBC posted to another persons account just by linking reservations.  I have had it happen when from a TA without linked reservations because of an error on their part.

This was all from X. $600 as part of my booking suite. $100 for having 100 shares of stock. $150 for booking V1. $850 OBC all from Celebrity. I did book our CS over year ago. Then booked the V1 just before final payment. 

While we love Victoria and Butchart Gardens. Just not worth our time when X stops in the evening. We live in the Seattle area and take the train to Vancouver BC for a better cruise. Also enjoy seeing the goats at Beacon Hill Children's Farm near the cruise terminal. Our cruise left from Vancouver BC last week.

I did take the shuttle into town to get our rental car. The shuttle was 15 Canadian for round trip. Dropped me off at the Empress Hotel. The inner harbor is very nice. All lite up at night. Nice restaurants if you want a change from X. Butchart Gardens should be lite up in the evening. I love going to BG in Dec to see the Holiday lights.

Just got home yesterday from sailing on Eclipse. We were in a Celebrity Suite. My MIL and her sister were in a standard cabin. I tried to make reservations for Murano online for the 4 of us. I had to call the 1-800- RETREAT number to get the time I wanted 6:30. That linked our cabins together. Dinner was great. My problems was, by linking the cabin/suite all the OBC went to my MIL. I talked to the Retreat Concierge (Inrich). Inrich said your credit card is on both cabins. You can see what OBC you have left in your MIL's cabin. REALLY. 

If your asking about "One pre-cruise category upgrade up to AquaClass® (based on availiability at time of booking)"

This must be done at time of booking. example: Book a Aqua cabin A1, but you pay the price of an A2. You must stay within the same category. example: You cant book a A2 and pay the price of a C1.

Years ago I called Celebrity Captains Club and I gave them my C&A number. My C&A number is different than my Celebrity Captains Club number.

20 hours ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

We were on the Beyond and the Edge the this year and Blu menu we were unable to ask for the MDR items like onion soup or ceasar salad, and the menu was very limited.  The items were not appealing to us and unlike the MDR where you can get chicken/steak/salmon every night we were unable to get any of those items.  Blu was very noisy in both cruises so we only dined one evening in Blu on each cruise and our service both times were so so, I have no idea why people rave about it as we found the MDR so much better in service, items offered and food tasting better.  We are booked on the Equinox and will give it a try, but from what I hear on this class of ship we are allowed to ask for the "everyday items" on the MDR, if this is true it will work out perfectly for us, if not, we be back in the MDR.

The spa stuff included in Aqua for us was useless a joke, because the treatments you still have to pay for but the only thing we did like about Aqua was the shower in these class of ships, the best shower in all our other 98 cruises we taken.  I would take Aqua for the showers, but unsure if those showers are in the class of ship we are currently booked on.

Last Nov we were in Blu, and were on the Solstice. We could order off of the Blu or MDR menus. S Class ships you should not have a problem with the every night items or ordering off the MDR menu. This has been the norm for quite awhile. But there was a time when Blu was launch about 2008 we could not order off the MDR. But always the every night items were available.

M Class ships are real easy to order every night items and ordering off the MDR menu. As Blu was cut out of the MDR. Blu was started on the S Class ships.

E Class ships are a world of their own.

I'm hoping that these hiccups are because of new staff or lack of staff. I hope in time things will settle down, and that we all can know what the new normal is for Celebrity.

10 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Didn't book another --- we may but will be destination driven.   Iain's interested in the New Guinea / Indonesia Cruise that visits the Island that has the Komodo Dragon

We went to Komodo to see the Dragons in 2013. We were on Millie. My mother with one of the dragons.

19 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

This is news to me.  How do I get the increased discount?

You get the discount when you call the Captains Club and upgrade your drink package. 

1 hour ago, vm6514 said:

But when I looked at my Your Club Tier,  Celebrity do not increase  the benefit on my Your Club Tier

 After your 1st cruise you are a Classic members. Classic members get a 10% discount on upgrades of drink package. You must call the CC to get the discount. I might be wrong, but I thought in the past Classic members either did not get a discount or a 5% discount.

I'm elite +, last year we were in Aqua and I upgraded to Premium getting 15% discount. I had our TA call for us.

We are in a CS a week from tomorrow on Eclipse. So things should be as they were for the most part. My 1st question for the maitre d in Luminae will be. MDR has dishes on the menu that have a up charge. Do suite guest have to pay the up charge? Anyone on CC know the answer?

Retreat tipping is $23 per day per person. So $322 for 2 people on a 7 night cruise in a suite. All gives us $600 OBC for a 7 night cruise. That means suite prices should go down $922. This will also lower your deposit for a suite. We need to check prices on Oct 3, then again on Oct 4. After that it is back to what will the market bare. 😁

As to the butlers. If I have the same butler bring on morning coffee and fruit. Then our butler will get a extra $100. But if I have different butlers, no extra $100.

59 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Maybe this is a question that deserves its own thread instead of asking it here, but since a primary focus of this thread is about "Suite Life" on PCL as compared to X, as a non-suite guest myself, I have often wondered...If one is going to spend that much money on a cruise and wants to be treated and fed like royalty, why does one choose a suite on a mass-market ship instead of cruising on a more upscale line like Regent or Oceania?  I've always imagined that if my finances could handle paying that much for a cruise, I would pick an upscale line instead of a more expensive cabin on a mass-market line.  But clearly there are many here who routinely choose the latter, and I'd love to get a sense of why as I'd love to learn from your experiences.  

I can only speak for myself. I have looked. My 2 issues are 1) Dress code, I want country casual ( nice jeans and a polo). Oceania, I think is country casual, but not jeans. Regent and Sliversea are not country casual all evenings in all restaurants. If I book a cruise line I will adhere to their dress code. I'm not looking to rock the boat. 2) Ship being to small, meaning I might be bored. 

On 9/13/2023 at 12:43 PM, Cap_D said:

Just FYI. But I think if you go through a self-service portal on certain third party websites, you can find multiple price points for the same room with different combinations of inclusions. It would not surprise me if you could find the AQ rate already, although it would not be able to exclude Blu or the spa access.  

 

How much should access to the heated indoor lounger and the sauna be?  

Zero. I dont use them. I only book Aqua for Blu and the shower wall. Seems like the shower wall is on the way out. Our Aqua cabin on Solstice last Nov did not have the shower wall.

Reading with interest. We mostly book Celebrity sky suites. With X making so many changes I thought it was time to look elsewhere. This month we are booked on X in a Celebrity Suite on Eclipse. Feb we will be on Discovery in a aft Penthouse Suite with Premium package. We also have a Celebrity Suite booked for Alaska next Sept. My question to myself. Is the service and food on Celebrity worth $3k to $5k more than Princess. We have not sailed on PCL in 12 years.

I dont know if it is going to make much difference. I email our TA with what Aqua cabin I want. With All our TA had to call X to upgrade our Wifi and drink packages with our Elite+ discount. I prefer to have tips included. 

I hoping our TA will be able to book Premium drinks and wifi with our Elite+ discount in one step.

My concern is the IT department getting things right.

6 minutes ago, doghog said:

Why are you asking me that? Where in my post you quoted did I even remotely say anything about smoking? 

My comment was more about MCS in general. Sorry

29 minutes ago, doghog said:

I'm not impressed with any of MSC intinaries for the Caribbean. 7 or 11 night cruises. Limited ports and their longer cruises are like B2B cruises with a TAD.  Leaving from Miami, New York or Port Canaveral. I like their 10 and 11 night US/Canada cruise intinaries. 

Where can you smoke on MSC?

Smoking is permitted in several bars on each ship, and on one side (indicated by signage) of the principal outdoor pool deck areas, where ashtrays are provided.

Is smoking permitted inside on MSC. This is a no go for us. Even if YC is very nice.

Elite Plus, were 800 to Zenith, 36 cruises with X. I want my Premium drink package for being Zenith. Wait, dont I already get that with suites. Booked a Princess Penthouse Suite for Feb. 1st time in 12 years.