chemmo

If someone in a CS has put in a bid for the RS then that frees up a CS 🤞 for you!

It’s scary how much you drink on a cruise! It seems to be just a constant flow…

A later get up…Or if I wake early a leisurely coffee on the balcony. No preordering coffee on a sea day so often a quick visit to the cafe for a take away… Head for Tuscan that doesn’t stop it’s Captains Club breakfast until 10am. Sit watching the wake views sipping a Bellini enjoying the delights of a salmon plate or if I am hungry enough an ultimate platter… After breakfast a return to the room for a rest, check on emails update live review and answer any questions. Browse the Today and decide if I am going to attend any of the activities/talks. Every cruise I say I will do more of these but frequently the desire to simply enjoy the deck wins the day! Head for a swim in the Solarium. By now most sun beds will be taken. Not bothered, I will simply place my sandals and throw over dress on a ledge or a chair in the Aqua Spa cafe if it isn’t open…Enjoy my leisurely swim then head towards the sunset bar dripping along the way…If I am still very wet on arrival I will continue to drip on a toadstool whilst I sip a pina colada… Lunchtime will depend on the ship, if there is a Porch then that is probably where we will head, if not then Sushi on five…Whichever we choose we will dine lightly… Afternoon, a very leisurely stroll around the ship making sure I keep out of the way of the serious joggers and don’t fall over the sun beds many of which have moved from their regimented positions to an interesting obstacle course. Stop and chat along the way to fellow guests and meandering staff simply savouring the sounds, sights and smells of a cruise ship at sea. When ready a return to the room with a drink to enjoy on the balcony where I will make a pretence of reading a book and gently rock to sleep for a restful afternoon nap. Murano tends to be our evening dining venue on sea days…we are rested enough to enjoy a longer meal. Freshen up, decide where to enjoy a pre dinner drink…If it isn’t too windy perhaps the sunset bar, if I care about my hair perhaps the Retreat lounge or ensemble lounge…Check the music on and where it is happening… A really leisurely meal…Savouring the food service and atmosphere. We love that Murano manages to be classy without being pretentious, formal without being stuffy… Probably a drink somewhere after, maybe listening to music near the atrium or in the ensemble lounge or retreat lounge or perhaps just head back to our room and enjoy a last drink on the balcony…The beauty of a sea day is you can make it up as you go along… OP thank you for such a lovely thread to remind us of the joy of cruising!

Only time we have had it is in a suite and brought by the butler. We had not requested it, simply returned early to our suite saying we were tired and going to watch a film. A few minutes later he returned with a bowl of warm popcorn for us. It may have been microwave…not sure but it was a much appreciated gesture.

We nearly cancelled a cruise when I realised I would still be wearing an orthopaedic boot when walking…However we decided to go ahead… Pool side staff super helpful getting me in/out of the pool using the ducking stool! Ladies cloakroom attendant helping me access as I limped on my crutches… People poolside manoeuvring their sun beds to fit me in… Tuscan staff seeing me struggle to get comfortable on a chair and descending with a multitude of pillows… I couldn’t have been better looked after. It is the staff and the clientele on Celebrity that create the ambiance that keep us returning! OP, thank you for this breath of fresh air post!

When in a RS or PH we are usually escorted on board. You check in at ‘Special Delivery’ where your luggage is taken, you are then taken to the next available agent for check in. By the time check in is complete a member of staff will be waiting to take you on board. How well this system works varies from port to port. Also some agents seem to want to ‘gather’ a few suite guests and take them together. If this is the case it is usually quicker to just board yourself…. Debarkation we simply tell the concierge what time we want to get off and meet them at that time in the Retreat Lounge. Sometimes we will be individually escorted off on other occasions it will be with a group.

In our experience in a RS or PH you get 2 one litre bottles of the spirits you request plus beers, sodas, water etc. There is a bottle of champagne in your suite as you board. In our experience you do not have free miniature bottles or wrapped snacks although your butler will bring you almost any snack you request. Beers, sodas etc are regularly replenished. Some guests have reported they have asked and received bottles of wine too. Whilst this has never been a regular request by us on the odd occasion we have asked (when dining in suite) the response has been mixed. First time a bottle of our preferred wine was brought up no issue. Next cruise we were told the butler would bring it up but by the glass…As there were three of us this obviously simply made the butler’s delivery harder and he popped back up with refills! I write this simply to note different ships have different rules sometimes…

Like you we have been suite cruising many years…We clearly remember when the only PH perks were two bottles of spirits and a ‘free’ specialty dinner. True luxury lines are also not receiving the best of reviews. I have friends recently back from Regent who had a good cruise but were lamenting a lesser quality cheese board, a smaller included wine selection and a few other miscellaneous ‘not quite the standard it was’ things…They also commented that the list of ‘included’ vs ‘extra cost’ activities seemed less balanced… Re the ship within a ship concept I think it is very much alive and kicking as bookings and pricing show, not just for Celebrity but for other lines too. Many of us don’t want a small ship we do want the bigger ship experience but the ‘club’ ambiance of the Retreat areas to return to when we are ready…I am aware what we pay for for a RS or PH is comparable to a ‘more luxury line’ but I don’t want a more luxury line I want the ship within a ship experience and I don’t think I am alone…

I think those of us who are regular followers of CC will focus on the reports of those we know give balanced reviews. I know your reviews will state what the actual situation is on board, the facts (included, not included…) plus then you will give an overview of your ‘whole’ experience…The opinion… We are aware that it isn’t only Celebrity making cuts nor is it just cruise lines. Many UK hotels suddenly are now offering good prices for rooms but are charging extra for breakfast and parking which previously were included in the price…Definitely rattling regulars! Restaurants are reducing the number of items on the menu, early bird offers are becoming increasingly rare….Quite simply it seems the whole hospitality industry post lockdown has rethought its ‘best’ options to reduce cost and maximise income… I do think Celebrity has been misguided in the way it has introduced change…quietly slipped in as if no one would notice…It has come across as both underhanded and petty. I honestly think it would have been better if they had ‘campaigned’ what we see as cuts as part of a bigger package with some clear ‘gains’… I don’t know if it is just me but I do think Celebrity has been misguided and missed some revenue options as it has been too focused on just saving $. For example, having made room service chargeable why not balance that by offer things people may see as worth paying extra for? For example, a brunch menu between 9am and 11am. Then people may at least feel that something better is on offer than there was before even if it does incur a cost… Looking forward to your reviews…

A couple of my friends are presently on Silhouette….I had been saying for years they should give Celebrity a go. Unfortunately they booked a short cruise which last year had reviews as a booze cruise and now poor reviews on the MDR… I do hope that the weather at least is kind to them…

What is really worrying is most of the changes are literally only saving them peanuts! A couple of members of staff here, a bottle of water there, a few pillow chocolates…Whilst my Mum always said “Watch the pennies and the £’s will look after themselves” I cannot believe these petty reductions in service will actually help the overall financial situation of Celebrity and if people start cancelling or cruising less then those pennies saved will be £ and $ lost…

You know it wouldn’t surprise me….

We love the fries from room service and the chicken noodle soup. Pure comfort food… Sincere thanks for toasting our health, I promise to return the favour when we are finally back at sea next September!

Hope you soon feel better…sincere thanks for posting…

It was more the ‘whole picture’ I was referring to. I am aware that most of the time SS fridges were filled up, that is great…no issue with that. I don’t have an issue with any of the perks that Terry has enjoyed. However, if every Sky Suite guests expects their butler to bring drinks from the bar it puts pressure on the service…As I said, even when in a higher suite, I wouldn’t expect this as common practice…Nice when offered but it isn’t a listed perk…Can you imagine if everyone at 4pm rang their butler for their martini to be brought to their room? The point I was simply trying to make was it is hard to know now what SS butler service was before the change…Some SS guests reporting above and beyond service whilst others reported their butler was more or less invisible…Perhaps some of the invisible butlers were so because they were tending to the needs of those expecting more… Just an observation not a judgement…

Terry, the ‘level of service’ you have described you have received in the past in a Sky Suite has by my interpretation, exceeded by a long way the listed Sky Suite butler service. I know I, along with many other regular upper suite guests, have commented more than once that you have frequently had perks that we have not expected or asked for and if offered would be considered a ‘treat’ not a right… We have, even when staying in the PH, not regularly expected drinks or bottles of wine delivered to our suite. If our butler has arranged things like this for us then we have said thank you but not necessarily expected it the next cruise because it isn’t in the list of PH perks…More often than not if we wanted a drink not in our bar set up we would simply go and get it. I care very much about the reduction in butler service to Sky Suites. I do think to remove a ‘perk’ people have paid for is wrong. I sincerely hope that Celebrity will make every effort to ensure all Sky Suite guests receive a great service. However, if some Sky Suite guests are expecting service above that offered to higher suites it definitely won’t work… As I have said in the past, good luck to you for having received such above and beyond service on multiple occasions but I don’t think your past experience particularly reflects the expectation or experience of most suite cruisers…This is in no way a personal ‘go’ at you…I hope you know the nature of my posts too well to think that. I do just think you have been very lucky in your past experiences.

I would assume it will be divided between the ‘team’. It does seem a lot of $$$ for a single guest even with that length of voyage… If you did get fantastic service I am sure you wouldn’t mind…You were content to pay it for a personalised service but will the ‘new’ system work for you? Will the team service level be worth the gratuities? Not even taking into account the % add on for butler service in a suite vs other price of another room… I must confess that one of the reasons for booking a suite with a butler for us over the years has been support with some mobility issues. It has been nice knowing we can avoid queues, knowing we can have things delivered to our room, knowing our room will be stocked with items we want. Not just drinks but sliced lemons, a real fruit plate…Don’t get me wrong, we haven’t used the butler intensively to fetch, bring and carry but we have always known we can ask or ring him. I am sure that we are not the only suite guests who have booked rooms with butlers to help in this way…

Very pleased about that…Much as it is awful when there are issues with your room sometimes you do have to accept that faults occur and that at least the company have tried to do things right by you..

Do you have an outcome?

We had a PH second toilet develop a fault that they couldn’t fix. They gave us a future cruise credit certificate. We didn’t ask for it, it was simply offered. Re your jacuzzi, whilst I know it wouldn’t fix an underlying issue couldn’t you have left the plug in with a couple of inches of water to get rid of the smell? We did have a sewage smell from the jacuzzi in a RS on Solstice. We were told that owing to the plumbing on the jacuzzi systems in rough seas the ‘u bend?’ can empty resulting in smells being able to come into the room…Once we got in the habit of regularly putting a bit of water down the problem went. We have occasionally had similar on other S class ships…always when we have not used the jacuzzi and the sea has been rough.

Most of our super sweet baby tomatoes disappear on the way from the greenhouse to the kitchen…The sugar snap peas never make it!

Can’t Sky Suite guests get speciality coffee delivered to their suites? I would have thought that was one thing they would continue. No reason why a Team member can’t be coordinating coffee deliveries.

Oh….don’t give Celebrity ideas…My E+ may not be worth much but I wouldn’t want to see it go!

Greetings, swjumbo, sincere best wishes for a wonderful cruise! I am so pleased you are enjoying your cruise. Nice to hear that Celebrity are catering for their younger guests, it is their vacation too. We had a fantastic Norwegian cruise in May a few years ago and had fantastic weather, hope you do too. I must confess we have always found the veg portions in Tuscan ridiculously small…The little dishes of mash, the pathetic portions of broccolini! Perhaps it is a British thing but the veggies always look lost next to the big slabs of steak! I tend to ask for a Caesar Salad to go with my steak…Perhaps not traditional but it is my holiday! It is a pity that salad is often vigorously chopped, it does look less appealing than whole or chunkier…I guess it is just easier to pick up on a fork that way… Sorry to hear some guests are less than thrilled with the MDR food. Is their gripe with the food selection or food quality? We are so sorry to have missed Silhouette’s last season in Southampton…We should have cruised on her twice this year but circumstances changed…She really is a beautiful ship, enjoy! On your next visit to Tuscan please raise your glasses and toast “To making it count…” our traditional first night salute! Continue to enjoy, keep the updates coming!

I think it is the little things butlers sometimes do that adds to your cruise pleasure! I remember us once returning to our suite saying we were shattered and going to watch a film. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door and our butler had a big bowl of popcorn for us!