bigbenboys

Bill, With the temp system and the new booking system. Will there be any way to know what rooms or if a room I want is available before we send off a request. I did see where you can put a room number in. I am assuming that will be a request for that room. Why spend my time and others if the room that I want is not available on the cruise I'm looking at. Thanks Richard

Agreed. I was a little surprised by the comment early in this thread of a bigger drink menu on Celebrity. I think Celebrity's is much more restrictive. It's a very short menu. In fact, I don't recall ever even seeing a menu on RCI. You just order your drink of choice. They'll make whatever they can with the alcohol they have.

 

 

 

When was the last time you were in a RCI DL? :confused: I don't ever recall having to get my own drink. They have dedicated cocktail waiters, just like on Celebrity.

On your cruise they had a bar on rollers that was outside on the balcony in the DL. I would stand in line or wait until no one was their. The had a dedicated bartender outside. Yes they had dedicated cocktail waiters. They were very busy. Having the 2 bar worked really great. This was on Indy. Richard

We just got home from Silhouette last week, our first cruise as Diamond-reciprocity Elites on X, and were very disappointed that the Elite HH simply didn't match up with the DL experience. As others have mentioned, no dedicated lounge (they'll reserve a public lounge for the event, Sky Bar on my sailing), more restrictive drink menu, no all day specialty coffee machine availability, fewer and less impressive snacks, and my biggest complaint, HH ending at 7pm.

 

Just my $.02... well, $.04 since DW felt the same way.

Yes you are right. RCL does do it better. If Celebrity is giving out vouchers you don't get any cold or hot appetizers. On Celebrity servers bring around the appetizers if it is held in Sky or Michaels Lounge. On RCL you have to get your own appetizers. On RCL at times you have to stand in line to get your drinks from the bar. Where Celebrity brings your drink to you. Our last cruise our drinks were taken by another couple. We have only used the Diamond Lounge once. It was a great experience. The all day specialty coffee machine was great. The RCL ships that don't have a dedicated lounge don't have as many amenities. Richard

We had one experience in AQ and dined in Blu on a 2012 cruise. We've booked AQ for a 2014 cruise and we're looking forward to it. We've paid a premium for AQ just so we'd have access to dine in Blu. While the other AQ amenities are nice they would not have been enough to justify a cabin more expensive than a 1A standard veranda if we didn't consider Blu a significant plus to justify the cost.

 

If you are in the same position then I'd suggest downgrading your cabin so you can save some money while dining in the MDR. If you like AQ for other reasons then you might as well dine in Blu for a night or two and see if you like the experience more than your last cruise and if not then talk to the dining room management and arrange to transfer to the MDR for the rest of the cruise.

 

It's nice to have different options so we can pick the one that suits our personal tastes the best.

On our May 2014 cruise we just booked. We wanted two C2 staterooms on deck 12. They were not available. So we are getting a A1's on deck 11 for less than a A2 or C1. We will check out both menus Blu and Select Dining to see which is best for us each night. Richard

RICHARD I agree about the meatloaf. It looked odd unappealing, like a small can of pet food upended on the plate. The Kobe stuffed shells looked better, but the pasta wasn't al dente. It was just so rubbery, as was the pasta for the lobster ravioli. The gnocchi also was of a consistency like no other gnocchi I've ever had or made. I'm half Italian and I know gnocchi! :D

I agree also that BLU is kind of "duck-centric", appearing on the menu in one shape of form every few days. Pomegranate duck, pecan duck, duck confit, duck appetizers... all of which I did like since, luckily, I do like duck. The lobster in that weird broth was a disappointment as the delicate flavor of the shellfish was lost. The prime rib was nicely rare/medium rare but it was difficult to cut and harder to chew (both of us ordered it, neither of us finished it).

The BLU cheese and goat cheese appetizers I thought were quite good.

Then there were some things I ordered kind of by default, because I couldn't really find anything that wowed me, and lo and behold I really enjoyed it, such as the Caesar Salad Soup (sounds weird but it grew on me).

I'm glad to here they did a Prime Rib. Our Wine & American Cup cruise did not have Prime Rib. I love Prime rib. They had Prime Rib two nights in the MDR. We in Blu had Rib Eyes. While I like Rib Eyes. At home I cook them on the barbecue a lot. It is hard to cook a rare prime rib for 2. Richard

I will say the service was great in Blu. But the food was so so. Thanks to Cynbar here is a link to some of the menus.

http://eclipse2011ta.webs.com/blumenus.htm

For me the menu was just not great. And yes I'm doing Blu again in May 2014. The worst thing on the menu was the Kobe Meat Loaf. It looked like high end dog food. I will eat many things. Beef, chicken, fish, pork, escargot. I don't want to eat veal, pheasant, quail, duck, lamb. Some of these animals I think of as wild, others to young to eat or just cute. The menu seems to have a lot of these type of animals. Richard

I have a question. If we go only by the rules. If a lady wears a Tux will she be turned away in the MDR for dinner on formal night? Richard

That is the written dress code but reality sometimes is different. No one will be turned away with a sport jacket.

 

Also, I have never seen them enforce no sleeves for breakfast. The cruise line is aware that people are getting up and going out for the day, often off of the ship. I personally have entered the MDR in the morning as well as blu with T-Shirts and then went immediately off the ship. I was not alone.

T-Shirt has sleeves. Tank tops or sleeveless muscle shirts dont have sleeves. Weather they will be turned away is another story. I'm not the fashion police. I leave that to others. Richard

We were just on the Solstice Sept 13-23. I heard on CC that we were going to be using the voucher system. I was told we had 650 Elites and 100 VIPs. There were 4 in our party and all 4 are Elite. The 1st night we went to the Sky Lounge. Only 2 wait staff for serving drinks and they did not served any hot or cold appetizers.

After that night we went to the Oceanview Bar at 5pm. We did have a great time. We got snacks from the Oceanview Café. I was told that things got better up in the Sky Lounge after the 1st night.

I like that I could still have short on.

I'm fine with having the option of Sky Lounge or any bar on their list.

Richard

We leave out of Seattle on Solstice Friday 9/13/13. Yes it is Friday the 13th. I sure hope the have Escargot in Blu every night and Prime Rib the 1st night. A Celebrity cruise is just not the same without Escargot every night. There is always room service I guest!!! It would make a nice before bed snack.:rolleyes: It will be our 1st time trying Blu. Richard

I was going thru some pics I found online and in this pic there is a glass bathroom scale at the bottom. Whoever heard of a scale on a cruise ship, it is like a clock in Las Vegas

 

I Like having a scale in my hotel room. Why not on the cruise. Richard

I can't see how loyalty with airlines can be compared to loyalty with cruise lines. People use airlines to get from one place to the other. Quite often, the choice is based on which one gets there in a certain amount of time or is the cheapest.. Cruise lines are entirely for pleasure. I have no loyalty to airlines, but I do to cruise lines.

 

Some of you who have a lot of Elite points are perfectly willing to take away benefits, and even Elite status, to everyone below you. I think Celebrity knows they can add benefits, but not take benefits away from anyone. People seldom notice losing anything they have never received. But if you take away a benefit they have been receiving, or have been working to receive, they will leave.

You might to look around at airlines. At check in I have a certain line to go in. Sometime like a cruiseline. From there I go to the lounge for free drinks. Something like a cruiseline. While I'm flying my free drinks and food are brought to me. Still something like the Elite happy hour. IF you want dinner before your flight in the lounge they will serve you dinner so you can sleep during your flight. Something like having dinner in your room on the cruise ship. Where the cruiseline does drop the ball is while between flights I can get a shower and a massage all for free. I have not heard of free massages for doing B2B cruises yet. But I'm looking. My last trip around the world was great by air. SEA to MEL to NRT to LHR to SEA. Yes even airlines have suites now. Richard

Southwest, your Reward points never expire, 41 straight qrts showing a profit. American, points expire, we all know where they are.

 

All we can do is sit back and wait and see what Celebrity is going to do. Until then we will enjoy our soon to be earned status in the top tier of the loyality food chain. Oh, and Diamond on RCCL.

 

Back to things that really matter in life, like what someone is wearing to dinner.

Delta your miles do not expire, but your tier level does. You need so many miles to maintain your level. I need 5000 more miles by the end of the year to get to the next level. If I don't make it I will say at the level I'm until 2/15. In the end it is up to Celebrity. Richard

Where did I say that someone has to cruise every few months or where did I refer to those not wealthy? Please don't put words in my mouth. If you read my post, I said that I didn't think it was fair to make someone who can only take 1 7 day cruise a year, wait for 20 years to become elite. I just think that if someone doesn't use a product in 5 or 10 years, they are not loyal customers. Not sure why your are so upset, if you disagree, that is fine, but no need to get snarky.

Airlines have levels and to maintain them you must travel with them so many miles with in a year. If you don't travel with them for 18 months you back to zero. So as a cruiseline you would have to cruise every 18 months to maintain your level. If not you will start over. Or drop down 1 level each 18 months that you don't take 1 cruise. Richard

Yes it is great news for RCL and their new smoking rules. I'm just back from spending a week in Indonesia and 40 days in Japan earlier this year. Where they seem to smoke everywhere. Both RCL and Celebrity both offer great vacation with different options. I do not smoke and it has not stopped me from booking balcony rooms on RCL in the past. Richard

Cabin Number: 7091 and 7093

Ship: Quest

Date: Aug 2011

Would you Choose cabin again: No

Is Noise an Issue?: Yes

Balcony Size: Normal

The noise was a hum sound. I'm not really sure where it was coming from. The closer to the center of the ship the noise went away. Next time when or if we cruise with Azamara we will be more center than center aft. We took the 1st 2 aft staterooms where the railing is not so solid. Richard

Take a look at our cruises. Most have been with RCL and Celebrity. We seem to always get the best perks with RCCL. We just put the deposit down today for our March cruise. The ship was fill up fast. We needed 3 rooms all together. Richard

Can you hear the noise from Café above ? We had S2 cabin 2121 and chair noise from above was a problem.

I have not heard any noise. Look at the deck map. Your in that area between the bathroom and the forward part of the Oceanview Café. We have only stayed in the rooms on the Port side. 2103, 2105, 2107 and 2109. It is nice to have a larger room, 2121 is not to far down. I also like the openness of the hall in the 1st 4 rooms. Richard

Having seen one review about balcony cabin 2111 on Equinox I was concerned to see that if you want a sun tan this cabin is not for you. Could anyone tell me if this is true? I can see by the deck plan that this cabin is on the bend. I usually sail with P & O and have always sunbathed on every balcony cabin I have had.

You are so close to the pool and upper decks where you have all the sun you want. Richard

We have cruised in rooms 2103, 2105, 2107 and 2109. Friends have had 2110. The hump balcony is our favorite up on deck 12. You will get a little more sun in rooms 2103 and 2104, but we are talking inches. We book 2 or 3 rooms side by side and open the dividers. For us it is all about location. We like the food up one floor and able to walk right out to the pool. Richard

We were On the Infinity June 2013. I had the Escargot every night. The stuffed mushrooms are good. The stuffed mushrooms are very filling. I can only eat 6 stuffed mushroom. I can eat 12 Escargot each night. I'm I the reason for the shortage?:eek: Richard

Dont get me wrong, I like the why it is now. But when I do the math. I travel in a group of 4 to 10 people. Our core group of 6 are Elite. Of the core 6, two of them are diabetics. If we each get 3 coupons. That means I get 9 drinks, each night. That is more than I drink in Michaels Lounge or the Sky Observation lounge. Our next cruise is in 61 days. I better start drinking more now. Richard:confused::D

Thanks for the update. Glad to here things are getting better. As I was on the Jan 20th cruise. There were 3 things that I didn't see. I did not see cloth towels in the public bathrooms. Back in Sept we had them on the Eclipes. Has Celebrity made a change? Or is this a Millie only thing? The other has to do with sorbet. Now being at the center of our earth I did not spend that much time at the pool. I did not see sorbet served around the pool. Did I miss it? We had select dining. I remember getting sorbet on formal nights to clean the palate in the MDR. I dont remember this on our last 2 cruises where we had select. Is this because we were in select dining? The other note was at bingo. We brought our own bingo dauber from our last cruise. On the Millie 1/20/13 cruise they said they did not get there shipment of daubers to sell. Did they get a shipment of daubers? Richard

Hi,

We normally get the C2 rooms on deck 12 of the S class ships. Great balconies. I have heard that the forward bump balconies have some wind while the ship is moving. Does anyone know if this is true? And if it is, how bad or good is it. Richard

I'm relieved to read the responses, because I believe I have a similar cabin on Reflection, just down a couple of floors. We have 7286. Am I right in assuming this is also one of the larger balconies?

 

Pray tell though, did I read that that there are wind problems with this one, or did I dream that?

 

I've had an aft cabin before on Solstice and loved it, but thought this one would be larger and have some cover, so I switched from an aft to it when it became available. I'd appreciate it if you all can verify this for me. Thanks![/quote

 

Room 7286 is a aft balcony room and should be large. You should not have a wind problem. When I talked about Aft and forward I was only talking of the rooms near the elevators that are at a angle. Take your deck 7. There are 8 1A rooms forward of the elevators and 8 1A rooms aft of the elevators. The aft rooms are 7141,7143,7145,7147 and 7286,7288,7290,7292. I hope this helps. Richard